


The Owl Family

by Theatrical72



Series: The Owl House Future Series [1]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Drama, F/F, Family, Future Fic, very mild peril
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 71,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26952946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theatrical72/pseuds/Theatrical72
Summary: Set 23 years in the future, Luz and Amity are proud parents as their daughter starts school. Their older son, Edmund, has become more and more of a problem child. Luz is a teacher at Hexside and has to deal with him day in and day out. Amity is trying to reach out to Edmund but finds him pulling further away. This is more of a drama story than a fun romp through the Boiling Isles.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: The Owl House Future Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011093
Comments: 74
Kudos: 249





	1. Her First Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction and also the longest thing I've ever written by a wide margin. I'll post chapters weekly as I work on finishing this and doing school stuff. Leave any comments, let me know what did and didn't work and I'll try to improve later chapters. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy.

“What a weirdo!”

The words hurt Carmen more than the impact of the ground on her knee. She held back tears as students surrounded her. Some of them laughed as she put her hands on her knee. Her tights had ripped and her skin stung around the scrap. She looked around, outnumbered 6 to 1 by boys and girls all her age.

It was the first day of school and things had started out well for Carmen. She held her mama’s hand as they entered the building. Most people would be nervous about starting school, but not Carmen for two reasons. The first being that her mama worked in the highschool section of the school. The second was that Carmen was going to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, the premiere school for witches on the Boiling Isles.

Everyone in Carmen’s family practiced magic. Her mothers had risen to fame when they were younger. They had done impossible things and faced ridiculous odds but emerged victorious. They were Carmen’s heroes and she wanted to be just like them. 

When they entered Carmen’s classroom, mama hugged Carmen tight and said goodbye, leaving to get to her own class. It was an average sized classroom, with a chalk board at the front of the room and two dozen little desks for the students to sit at. Each desk had a student's name on it, Carmen found hers and started getting her stuff out of her backpack. 

Carmen didn’t know any of the kids but had met the teacher, Mrs. Abbott before. She was a lot older than mama but was very nice. A girl with long red hair and glasses sat next to Carmen. She sat upright and proper, eager for the lessons to start. She noticed Carmen and stuck out her hand for Carmen to shake.

“My name’s Nora!” The girl introduced herself to Carmen. “What’s yours?”

“I’m Carmen,” Carmen eagerly accepted the hand shake. “My mama works here.”

Nora smiled, “Cool, I bet you already know some spells than huh?”

“I can do one, it’s hard for me to get it right.”

“I know about 3, I can’t do them perfectly either,” Nora looked back at the chalk board at the front of the class. “I’m glad I’m not the only witch who’s going to be ahead of everyone. I’m going to be the greatest witch ever, but I’m glad that I’ll have a friend. 

Carmen smiled at Nora.

“Yeah! I’m going to be just like my mom and be a great witch too!”

Nora looked back at Carmen, nodding and giving her a smile. The bell shouted and the teacher shut the door to the room.

“Good morning class,” Mrs. Abbott called to the room.

“Good morning!” The class called back in response.

The morning began easily enough, introductions, coloring runes, all the basic stuff that mom had said would happen. Then, before lunch, things took a turn.

Mrs. Abbott stood at the front of the class writing out the different kinds of magic.

“Now, along with the main tracks of magic, there’s simple magic, spells that don’t belong to the main tracks and that any witch can use. Can anyone think of any?”

Nora and Carmen’s hands flew into the air. Mrs. Abbott pointed at Nora.

“Nora, what spell are you thinking of?”

“There’s telekinetic spells that move things.”

“Excellent, and Car…”

Nora’s hand shoot back up in the air.

“Yes Nora?” Mrs. Abott asked.

“I can do the spell to demonstrate.”

“Oh, well let’s see it.” Mrs. Abbott walked over to the girls. Nora pulled out a pencil and put it in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, readying herself. Then her eyes shot open, she made a circle in the air and the pencil glowed before it lifted off the table.

Mrs. Abbott gave a round of applause to Nora. “Very good, that’s not an easy spell to learn at this grade. Now Carmen, you also raised your hand, what spell were you thinking of.”

“Oh,” Carmen sank back in her seat, Nora’s display weighing on her. “Well, I know how to do the light spell…”

“Light spells are very important,” Mrs. Abbott replied, giving Carmen a warm, encouraging smile. “Why don’t you show the class how to perform them.”

Carmen smiled and grabbed her pad of paper and pencil from inside her desk. The class all adjusted to see what she was doing. Nora looked especially confused as Carmen drew a circle with shapes inside of it onto the paper. Carmen took a deep breath and put her finger on the circle. 

_ Please work!  _ Carmen pleaded, opening her eyes in time to see the paper wrinkle up under her touch and turn into a ball of light that floated in place for a few seconds. The class stood silent for a second until Mrs. Abbott began clapping.

“Excellent job Car- “

“What was that!” Nora shouted at Carmen, disbelief written all over her face.

“Magic, my mama taught it to me,” Carmen said, confused by Nora’s reaction. “You draw the glyph and the island turns it to magic.”

“But that’s not how magic works, you make the circle with your finger and that’s where the spell comes from.”

Mrs. Abbott cleared her throat. “Nora, Carmen is doing a very old kind of magic called glyphs. It wasn’t used until recently because witches didn’t need them but now, we’re rediscovering them and all they can do.”

Nora looked at Carmen, trying to understand all the information being thrown at her. 

“Well how come Carmen needs them.”

Carmen stared at Noa in confusion. She knew a lot of people were still unfamiliar with glyphs but what did it matter that she needed them?

“Well,” Mrs. Abbott started, looking between Nora and Carmen in concern. “Carmen can’t do magic the way you and I are used to because Carmen doesn’t have a magic sac.”

The class gasped and started to whisper. Carmen could feel her face turning red in embarrassment. Nora stared at Carmen like she was diseased.

“Now class, there is nothing wrong with Carmen, she isn’t sick and there isn’t anything wrong with how she does magic. Like I said, the field of glyphs has been growing a lot and Carmen won’t have much difficulty learning magic just like us. It’ll be a different kind of magic, some of you may even find it fun to learn with her.”

The bell screamed again.

“Alright, grab lunches if you have them and we’ll line up for lunchtime,” Mrs. Abbott told the children. “After lunch is recess, then we’ll return to lesson. I’ll leave some space at the end of the day if you have any more questions on glyphs.”

The class started moving around to get ready. Carmen got up and grabbed the lunch that mom had made for her. She looked over at Nora, who was already in line to go. She smiled and waved at her, but Nora just looked away and started talking to the girl in front of her in whispers.

During lunch Nora and some other kids ate together. Carmen sat close to them, hoping to be invited over but they only occasionally looked at her before continuing their conversation. When lunch was over, they lined up again for recess. Carmen stood in the back of the line, when Nora walked over.

“Hey Carmen, I’m sorry about lunch, I didn’t know you couldn’t do real magic and it freaked me out,” Nora said, frowning and trying to show Carmen she meant it.

Carmen smiled at Nora, “It’s okay, I should have told you before. My mama says my magic is just different, and different things can be scary.”

“Yeah, listen, me and those kids I was talking to want to play tag and I know a great spot, you should join us!”

Carmen nodded excitedly, “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

They were behind the school, away from the playground where teachers or other students could see them. The moment they were out of sight Nora had shoved Carmen. At first she thought it was an accident, so she stood back up, that’s when the insult and second shove happened. Carmen thought she saw someone looking at her through a window, but no one came. Now she was surrounded and on her own.

“Nora, I don’t understand, why are you doing this?” Carmen asked while holding back sobs. 

Nora just snorted and gestured to their Hexside uniforms.

“You’re giving all witches a bad name. Imagine getting into a school for magic when you can’t even DO magic,” Nora got closer Carmen as she talked. “If the teachers won’t tell you that you don’t belong here, we will!”

Nora raised her fist, Carmen closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

“Abomination: RISE!”

Carmen opened her eyes as a voice called out from across the field. A shadow fell over Nora. Both she and Carmen looked up as purple goop with one eye and a gaping mouth flew over Carmen and landed on the bully.

“EWWW!” Nora cried as she looked at her ruined school uniform.

“You leave her ALONE!” The voice called out as a 14-year-old boy made his way towards the group. His brown hair was a mess and his fists were balled and ready to throw down. His uniform was a mix of pink and purple. He walked past all the kids and stopped in front of Carmen, getting on his knees to help her up.

“You okay sis?”

Carmen nodded, still holding back tears.

“Don’t worry about them, your big bro’s here to help!” Her brother smiled at her, flashing a tooth missing grin. He turned and looked at all the kids around him, his face becoming a wall of rage.

“Alright listen up! This is my sister! If any of you even think about hurting her again, you’ll answer to me!” He turned and looked straight at Nora, giving her a deadly look that said  _ mess with Carmen again, I dare you _ . “Because I know magic a lot stronger than just an abomination.”

Nora took a step back, scared. Then a smile crept up on her face.

“Yeah, and who’s going to protect you?”

Nora’s smile disappeared as she started crying. She slowly backed up, before running towards the playground.

“Help, there’s a big kid who’s picking on us.”

The other kids in the gang looked at the older kid before following Nora’s lead.

“Help us!”

“He’s scary!”

“Mommy!”

Carmen looked at her brother, who was staring at the running kids with a scowl on his face.

“Edmund?”

Her brother looked over at her, his face returning to a smile for her.

“Hey, let’s get you checked out, I’ve got about five minutes.”

“Five minutes till what?”

Edmund gulped through his smile. “Till mama finds me and kills me.”

They moved over so that they could see the playground and the teachers. As Edmund looked at her knee, Carmen finally started crying. Edmund tried to put on his biggest grin for her.

“Don’t worry about those bullies, I sorted them out, you’ll see. I think you’ll be okay sis, looks like it was just a little scrape, once we go inside, we’ll have the nurse clean it out-.”

“EDMUND BLIGHT-NOCEDA WHERE ARE YOU!”

Edmund stood up straight and turned slowly. A tall woman walked onto the playground and found two teachers and started talking to them. They pointed over to two siblings, and the woman made her way over. Edmund looked at the ground, avoiding her gaze. As she got closer, Carmen could see her brown eyes piercing Edmund like daggers.

“THE FIRST DAY! WAS IT TO MUCH TO ASK THAT FOR ONCE YOU NOT MAKE TROUBLE ON THE FIRST DAY!” She shouted as she approached him. Carmen reached out and held Edmund’s hand as his face became hard. The woman reached the two and Luz Blight-Noceda looked at Edmund with anger and disappointment.

“Edmund, look at me,” she said in a strict and firm voice. Edmund kept his eyes aimed towards the ground. Carmen hugged him as hard as she could.

“Mama Edmund didn’t do anything!” Carmen said holding onto her brother.

Luz looked at Carmen and saw the scrape on her knee, the redness of her eyes, and looked back at Edmund. Luz’s expression softened as she put the pieces together of what had happened to her two children.

“Hijo,” she said with a sigh. “I know you meant well, but violence isn’t the answer, especially not with kids half your age. You find a teacher or try and deescalate the situation. Sending abominations at 6-years-olds is unexpectable.”

“But mama- “ 

“No buts” She grabbed Carmen’s hand, her expression shifting to sadness. “Now, Carmen, we’ll go over to the nurse and get a band-aid for you.”

Luz looked at Edmund. “As for you, we’re going to Bump’s office. We’re staying late after school so that we can meet with mom and that young girl’s parents. Este va a ser un dia largo. You kids tell me everything that happened on the way.”

The three of them began walking back to the school building. Carmen and Edumnd told both sides of their story. Edmund was the figure in the window Carmen had seen. The moment he recognized her and realized what was going on, he bolted down the stairs to help her. When asked why he wasn’t in the cafeteria or at homeroom, Edmund didn’t respond.

“Edmund, please tell you weren’t already on your way to see Bump?” Luz asked, her voice breaking with sadness.

“No, I was just… I wasn’t feeling well.” Edmund said without much conviction.

Luz sighed, before looking at Carmen. “Do you know the names of the other kids that were with Nora?”

Carmen shook her head. “No, I wasn’t paying attention to them, I was just happy to play with Nora- “

With that she started crying again. Luz stopped to pick her up.

“Shush Mija, shush…” Luz said as she carried Carmen into the nurses office, she turned to look at Edmund. “Edmund, please don’t go anywhere.”

“I won’t.” Edmund said defeated, knowing that his mama’s day was at an all-time low.

Luz shut the door and returned to Carmen. The old nurse at the school was humorless, but good at her job. A simple clean and a bandage was all that was required to treat the knee.

“Thanks so much Nurse Hatchet,” Luz told the nurse. “Carmen, what do you say?”

Carmen looked at the old, wrinkled witch “Thank you.”

The nurse nodded and the two left the office. Edmund was waiting like he said, doodling in a notebook. Wordlessly he got up and followed them. They made their way through the school towards the principal’s office, they stopped in front of his secretary, a monster with four long thin arms doing three sets of paperwork and a crossword puzzle all at once. She looked up and glanced between Carmen, Luz and Edmund.

“Please tell me it’s not both?”

“No, just him, I need to return Carmen to class but I’ll be back. Edmund won’t make any more trouble while he waits.”

Edmund took a seat in front of the secretary.

“Hello Gladis”

“Hello Edmund, good summer?”

“Could’ve been worse.”

Luz and Carmen headed off to the first-grade room. Carmen stopped in front of the door.

“I don’t want to go back in mama,” Carmen said, tears starting to reappear. “I want to go home, I want mom, I want King, I want Auntie Eda, I want abuela.”

Luz crouched down to look at her daughter’s face, brushing some of the light brown locks out of her face.

“I know you’re scared, but I’m here and we’re going in together. I’m going to talk to Mrs. Abbott and move you away from Nora too. She’s not going to bother you anymore today. We’re going to have a talk with her parents today too, but I need you to be brave and give it another shot okay.

Carmen nodded slowly as Luz hugged her as tightly as she could. Then she stood up and walked into the room. Mrs. Abbott was reading a story to the class and she stopped as the two walked in.

“Hello Luz, everyone, this is Carmen’s mom Mrs. Blight-Noceda,” a couple mummers erupted as Mrs. Abbott walked over to Luz, she began whispering. “I’m so sorry, I saw them walk away but I thought they were just playing, I don’t know everything that happened but what do you need right now.”

“Right now,” Luz said looking around the room. “Right now, I just need my daughter safe.”

“Of course, I’ll see you later today.”

Luz nodded at Mrs. Abbott, then bent down and gave Carmen a kiss before leaving the room.

“Alright class, now, Carmen is going to be switching seats, let’s see, Gunther, why don’t you and Carmen switch spots. Carmen, quick grab your stuff and take Gunther’s old spot okay?”

“Okay,” Carmen replied as she made her way to her desk. Nora shot her a dirty look as she grabbed her things. Carmen tried to avoid looking at her but she could feel Nora’s gaze. She passed Gunther who gave her a little shove.

“Oops,” Gunther said, Carmen just kept walking. She sat down next to a boy with jet black hair, a girl with tentacles for hair and a lizard like boy. As Mrs. Abbott continued the story, the boy with black hair leaned over to Carmen.

“I fought you’re gliff was cool,” he whispered to her.

“huh?”

“The gliff you drew, tat was cool,” He said smiling and holding out a hand. “I’m Alden, sowry if I’m hawd to undastand, I have a speets impediment.”

“A what?”

The Lizard boy leaned over from behind Carmen. “He meansss a ssspeech impediment, he has difficulty prouncccing sssssounds. I’m Basssil.”

“Hi, I’m Carmen, it’s nice to meet you both.”

“Shush,” whispered the girl with tentacle hair. “I’m trying to listen… I’m Diana by the way.”

Carmen smiled as Alden slid something over to her. It was a note reading ‘teach me the glyph?’ written on it. Carmen pulled out her pencil and wrote ‘yes’ on the note. She slid it back to Alden whp quickly read it and then gave her a thumbs up.

_ Maybe _ , Carmen thought,  _ maybe school won’t be all bad _ .

  
  



	2. Meetings and Confessions

Amity Blight-Noceda was having a good day. Was being the optimal word here. She woke up early to make the kids and Luz lunch. She made it to work on time, got through everything she needed. She even got to take a walk during her lunch break, when does anyone have time to do that? The one thing she had hoped for was that Edmund would, just for once in the last 4 years, behave himself at school. Then Luz had called and told her what had happened and that hope was gone.

All her life she had known troublemakers, her brother and sister, her wife, her adopted aunt, even herself a couple of times! But Edmund was on a whole different level. He resisted everything so much. It was like he was facing the whole world all the time in a life and death struggle.

He was the sweetest kid growing up. Amity wasn’t sure when this attitude had started. It wasn’t when he had started school, he was the brightest kid and his teachers loved him. It wasn’t after Carmen was born; he was the proudest big brother and loved his little sister like nothing else. No, it was something else, something that started a few years ago but that Amity or Luz couldn’t pin down. Eda certainly wasn’t the best influence, but she had a reason to be angry at the school system back then. Edmund is just a force of nature all his own.

Amity snapped out of her train of thought as she landed in front of Hexside. A few older students were hanging around; some parents and teachers were talking in front of the building. Amity waved to her old abomination’s teacher, who excitedly waved back. She headed towards him, putting on a smile. Her teacher had changed very little, a small man being carried by one of his own creations.

“Hello Mr. Blanc,” Amity said happily. “Busy first day?”

“Isn’t it always?” her old teacher replied. “I heard another Blight is in Hexside, that must be exciting?”

“Yeah, our little girl. They’re both growing up so quickly, I remember Edmund’s first day and hoping he’d make friends and be okay. Now it’s Carmen and she…”

Amity froze, as it all dawned on her. Everything that could’ve gone wrong on her daughter’s first day did. She was bullied, she was attacked, the fact that she couldn’t do magic on her own painted a giant target on her before lunch. And Edmund had attacked a 1 st grader!

Mr. Blanc turned around, realizing that both of Amity’s children were currently the reason she was here.

“I’m so sorry my dear, I wasn’t thinking about- “

“No, it’s okay, that’s why I’m here, to fix this.”

“Amity, no one blames you for Edmund. A lot of his elementary school teachers still speak highly of him. We’re at as much of a loss for his recent changes as you must be.”

“Yeah,” they had reached Bump’s office and Amity entered it.

The small man nodded. “Of course, hopefully we get to see each other in more pleasant circumstances.”

They parted ways as Amity stepped into Principal Bump’s office. Gladis was still working on the crossword puzzle.

“They’re all in there, sorry to have you come out here… again.”

Amity sighed as she walked past her.

“Thanks, Gladis.”

Amity reached out and opened the door. Bump was writing in a piece of paper, probably Edmund’s report for his permanent record. Luz was talking with Mrs. Abbott quietly. A girl Carmen’s age was talking with her parents, a man and a woman who instantly reminded Amity of her own parents. Edmund was with Carmen, helping her practice her runes. Carmen was the first to notice Amity.

“Mommy!” Carmen sprang off of Edmund, who took a quick look at Amity before bringing his gaze to the floor.

“Oh, let me see my baby,” Amity ran her fingers through Carmen’s hair, putting loose strands behind her pointed ears. “How are you?”

“Better,” she said as she buried herself in a hug.

“That’s good,” Amity looked up at Principal Bump who put down the paper he was filling out.

“Well now,” Bump started. “we’re all here so let’s begin. I’m sure we all have a lot of high emotions right now but I need to make one thing clear: this school has been working hard to lower the bullying problems we’ve had in the past. We’re still figuring out what that will look like but this situation isn’t one sided. Mrs. Blight-Noceda, your daughter was attacked first and without provocation. It was also your son who attacked young Miss. Selene. I think that obviously the victim in this whole situation is poor Carmen. So I’d like to hear her side of the story first.

Carmen looked at Amity, silently asking for help. Amity nodded and, with a little effort, picked up Carmen. Amity listened as Carmen told her story. Edmund didn’t move his gaze from the floor even after Carmen called him her hero, refusing to show any emotion. Bump nodded as she finished. Then he turned to Nora.

“Is this true Nora,” Bump asked. Nora looked between her two parents who nodded her.

“It’s true I pushed her, but I never called her names or said she didn’t belong here.”

“Yes you did!” Carmen yelled back. “you pushed me twice and you called me weird and you said I wasn’t a real witch.”

“No I didn’t, we were playing and I accidently pushed you, you’re lying about calling you names!”

Amity felt Carmen grip her cloak and bring her face into it. She felt Carmen silently sob, and grabbed her daughter all the harder and rocked her. Bump looked at Edmund now.

“Edmund, did you see and hear Nora call Carmen names?”

“No,” Edmund’s gaze held firm on the floor. “I was on the second floor when I saw them push Carmen. I ran down the stairs and outside as fast as I could. I saw Nora about to hit Carmen so I sent an abomination at her.”

“But you didn’t see or hear anything else?”

“No, they just ran off crying like Carmen said.”

“I see,” Bump stood up with the piece of paper. He walked over to a filing cabinet and opened it. “Edmund, I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve been in this office so this is going on your permanent record. Even if protecting your sister was the right thing to do, that was the wrong way to do it. You’ll also be serving after school detention for the next two weeks.”

“Okay,” Edmund said without breaking any sign of emotion

Bump sighed, and shut the cabinet before returning to his seat.

“Now, as for Nora, it’s the first day of school and I think we can all agree that what she did to Carmen was bad. I think that for now a warning and an apology are all that will be needed. Mrs. Blight-Noceda, is that okay with you?”

Amity caught Luz looking at her, nodding in agreement. Amity looked at Bump and nodded at him too.

“That’s fine Principal Bump, Carmen sweetie, is that fine with you?”

Carmen eased her grip on Amity and nodded. Amity put her down. Carmen walked over to Nora, who didn’t look remotely sorry.

“I’m sorry I pushed you Carmen, it was wrong of me.” Nora said.

Carmen didn’t say anything back.

“I said I’m- “

“You need to apologize for calling me weird.”

“I said I didn’t do that,” Nora said as hard as stone.

Luz walked over to her daughter.

“Mija, she said she was sorry.”

“But I don’t care about her pushing me, she said I was weird and I didn’t belong and that’s what she needs to apologize for.”

“I know, Mija, words hurt, but forgiving her will make you feel better okay.”

“Promise?”

Luz traced an X over her heart.

Carmen turned back to Nora. “I forgive you Carmen.”

“Alright,” Bump said, sounded exhausted but relieved. “Now, as I understand it, Mrs. Abbott has moved Carmen away from Nora in the class. Are you okay in your new seat Carmen?”

“Yeah,” Carmen said. “I have 3 friends there.”

“Excellent, well are there any other questions, comments or-“

“Yes,” Mr. Selene stood up. “I believe the young man here owes my little girl an apology as well.”

“Fair enough,” Bump turned to look at Edmund. “Edmund, if you would please look at Nora and apologize.”

Edmund turned his head just enough to barely see Nora.

“Sorry I threw an abomination at you kid, that was wrong of me.”

“Okay,” Mr. Selene said as he grabbed Nora’s hand. “Thank you, Principal Bump.”

With that, the Selene family left the room. The Blight-Noceda family was about to follow suit when Bump cleared his throat.

“Excuse me, Amity, Luz, can I talk with you for a minute alone?”

The two witches looked at each other in worry. They brought Edmund and Carmen outside the door.

“We’ll just be a minute okay,” Amity said looking at Carmen with a smile. “We just need to talk with Bump quick and then we can go home.”

“Don’t wander around Edmund and stay with Carmen,” Luz told Edmund with an ‘I mean it’ look.

“I won’t,” Edmund said, giving Luz an ‘I'm not an idiot’ face.

The two witches went back inside Bumps office. The old principal held his face in his hands.

“I had hoped Edmund wouldn’t be here today,” Bump said wearily. “Unfortunately, that isn’t what’s happening. It’s still the first day but if things don’t turn around soon, I don’t know what we’ll do. Not even Eda caused this much trouble. He’s smart, we all know it, but he’s ruining labs, sabotaging events, no one can keep up with him.”

“What are our options?” Amity asked, fear in her voice.

“Well, if I don’t see improvements over the first two months, I’m afraid expulsion might be on the table,” Bump said this as he dug through a drawer in his desk. “We do have options for counseling, or maybe he needs an out of school event to give him some discipline.”

Bump pulled out several pamphlets.

“I know this isn’t the way any of us wanted to start the school year but things can’t go on like this.”

“We know,” Amity grabbed some of the pamphlets and glanced at a couple. “We’ve tried to reach out to him but he’s not meeting us at all. He tells us not to worry while we see him throw everything away.”

“Thanks for these Principal Bump,” Luz took the rest of them. “We’re not giving up on Edmund!”

“Good, well that’s all for today, you get your family home and get some rest.”

Gladis was already gone by the time Luz and Amity walked out. Carmen was sleeping on Edmund’s shoulder outside the office. Luz picked her up, the 1 st grader was sound asleep, exhausted from her big first day. The family walked out of the school, only the sound of the grudgby team practicing could be heard. It was a short enough walk to where they were going to have dinner that night. It was a nice evening for their walk, not too hot and humid, not too cold and brisk. Amity was in the middle of Luz and Carmen and Edmund, smiling as her wife struggled to keep her balance with their daughter in her arms.

“Mom,” Edmund called out from behind her.

Amity turned around, Edmund was looking at her, his face sullen but it looked like he finally might want to open up to her. Amity walked over, calling out to Luz as she did.

“Keep on going, we’ll catch up with you.”

Luz gave a thumbs up, before stumbling, just managing to catch her balance. Amity giggled and made her way over to her son.

“Hey, what’s on your mind sweetie?”

Edmund looked from her to the forest on his right before sighing.

“I didn’t mean it.”

“What,” the smile slowly left Amity’s face. “What didn’t you mean?”

“The apology I gave to that brat in Bump’s office. I’m not sorry, even if it wasn’t right I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“Edmund that’s horrible, you could’ve hurt that girl.”

“SHE hurt Carmen! She was going to keep doing it too. Now she’s not going to touch her again.”

Amity covered her mouth with her hand as she looked at her son. He meant every word of what he said, and she could see it on his face.

“I know that’s not what you want to hear mom, I know I’m letting you down, but I don’t care about that. All I care about is that you guys are safe. I don’t really care about school anyways. I mean, Auntie Eda never finished- “

“Auntie Eda didn’t have a choice!” Amity shouted as she grabbed her son’s arms. “Auntie Eda couldn’t choose to study what she wanted. She couldn’t choose what she got to do. She didn’t choose to turn into an owl beast. You have all the choices and all you’re doing is choosing the wrong ones. Edmund I…”

Amity drew her son into a hug, crying as she did so.

“I don’t want to lose you, please, we need you to talk to us. I need you to talk to me. Everyday I ask where my sweet little boy went? The one who came crying to us with scappred knees and nightmares. Now everyday it’s another fight or destroyed room and I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t need you to be a little kid anymore, but I need you to be okay. That’s all I want.

She let go of her son, wiping away the tears in her eyes. When she looked at her son, his expression hadn’t changed

“Sorry I made you cry,” was all Edmund said before he started off after Luz. Amity stayed there for a moment. The sounds of the forest got louder around Amity, but that wasn’t what she was afraid of at the moment.

_ Was it something I did?  _ Amity thought to herself _. Could I have said something differently? I tried to do everything right. I tried to be so far from my parents with how controlling I was. Should I have been a little stricter? When did I lose him? Can we handle losing him? Will we lose Carmen too? _

A twig snapping in the forest brought Amity out of the zone. She picked herself up and started running after her family. After a few seconds she had caught up to Luz and Carmen, who was just waking up.

“Hey, Edmund just hurried past us, you guys okay?” Luz asked as Carmen reached out to Amity, who obliged and grabbed her.

“No. Luz, I don’t know with him anymore,” Amity said quietly as she could as she adjusted Carmen in her arms.

“Is Edmund going to be in more trouble because of me?” Carmen asked sleepily.

“No no no no, of course not, Edmund wasn’t in trouble because of you,” Amity reassured her tired daughter. “Edmund is, he’s having some trouble in school and today wasn’t your fault.”

“But it’s my fault I can’t do magic.”

Amity heard Luz gasp and stumble back. One look at the panicked expression Luz had told Amity exactly what Luz was thinking. What she had been for the last 6 years.

“Carmen, we told you, it’s not your fault or anybody’s fault you can’t do magic,” Amity walked over to Luz and grabbed her hand. “Mama and I love you because of who you are, not because of what you can do. We wouldn’t trade you for anything, we wouldn’t trade you with a baby that could do magic on its own.”

“Why not?”

“Because she wouldn’t be our baby,” Luz said, holding in tears. She grabbed Amity and Carmen in for a hug. Amity could hear Luz's breath steady as the three held onto each other. Carmen was the first to let go. She leaned into Amity’s ear.

“Mom, I’m hungry.”

Amity chuckled, and she let go of Luz.

“Okay, let’s go to Auntie Eda’s already.”

The three started off, all holding hands. They heard the house before they saw it, easy enough when the knocker is a sentient obnoxious owl demon.

“LUZ, AMITY, SMALL LUZ/AMITY KID! YOU GUYS ARE LATE HOOT HOOT!”

Amity sighed, already annoyed.

“Hi Hooty,” Luz said with a forced smile. “Let us in before Amity hurts you.”


	3. Aunts and Demons

Eda had spent almost 20 years alone in the Owl House in wonderful bliss. Then Luz showed up and changed everything. Suddenly, there wasn’t a single quiet day in her life. It was all “Teach me magic,” “let me go to magic school” or “help me get ready for my date!” Then Luz got married and left Eda and King. With nothing but peace and quiet ahead of them.

_ God when did I get sick of peace and quiet?  _ Eda asked herself as she sat on the floor playing with Carmen.  _ When did the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles become the cool aunt for a human, her wife and their two kids? _

“Auntie Eda, you can’t do magic without glyphs either right?” Carmen asked, stopping their pretend tea party.

“Well, I used to be able to,” Eda said, putting down her glass full of “very hot” tea. “Then I lost it due to the curse I had. I can still cast spells with Owlbert but to really show off I still need glyphs. Why do you ask?”

“Well, my new friend Alden wants me to teach him glyphs, but I don’t want him to get shoved.”

“Why would someone shove a kid for wanting to learn glyphs?” Eda raised the glass to her lips, stopping as she put two and two together. “Someone shoved you because you use glyphs! Who was it? I’ll feed them to Hooty myself!”

“Sush, Edmund got in trouble today because he covered Nora in goo, I don’t want you to get into trouble either.”

“Edmund attacked a girl? Was the principal angry?”

“I guess,” Carmen picked up her glass and sipped from it. “He sent us out and talked to mama and mom about it.”

Eda put down her tea cup and stood up.

“Excuse me lady Carmen, but I must find Sir Edmund to speak with him.”

“Okay, but be quick or else your tea will get too cold.”

Eda laughed and gave Carmen a quick kiss before making her way into the kitchen. There, King, Amity and Luz were busy cleaning up from supper. King was in the middle of a story, standing on the counter next to the sink. Amity was putting away dishes while Luz relaxed, drinking some water.

“So then I say, look pal, we can either make a deal on this today, or you walk away with nothing.”

“Well, what did he do king?”

“He walked away with nothing. And I mean nothing, not his wallet, his keys, and especially not the thing he was trying to trade me with.”

Luz laughed at this as Amity gave her a look of  _ we want this in our kid’s lives _ ?

“But really, it’s been too long, guys. I know you’re busy but the house just isn’t the same without you guys or the kids in it.”

“I know,” Amity said as she finished putting away the last of the dishes. “It’s just hard with our work schedules and kid’s being in school and Edmund….”

Amity trailed off, Luz looked uncomfortable and quickly downed her glass of water.

“I heard that he helped Carmen,” Eda chimed in. “Probably did something stupid but his heart was in the right place.”

“Eda I don’t know where his heart is,” Luz said as she turned on the faucet for more water. “He’s getting into more trouble than even you did. He looked up to you so much when he was younger.”

“Well he definitely wanted to join the Bad Girl Coven, but I said that wasn’t what his parents wanted. I always talked you guys up, told him if he really wanted to be like me he should listen to you two.”

“THEN WHY WON’T HE LISTEN TO US!” Luz shouted, dropping her glass. Silence followed the sound of it shattering. Amity walked over Luz and wrapped her arms around her.

“I’m sorry Eda,” Luz said despondently. “I’m not trying to blame you, I couldn’t do that to you. I just keep asking myself if there was a moment I missed when he changed. Maybe when he was with you, or Camila, or at school. The one time I took my eyes off him at the park or when I made him play little league grudgby.”

“Is everything okay in here?”

Everyone turned and looked as Edmund came into the room, wearing the earbuds Camila had gotten him for Christmas last year.

“Carmen said she heard shouting and things breaking and was scared.”

Luz wiped herself off with her sleeve, Amity was still holding her.

“Yeah, everything’s okay kid,” Eda said as she moved to block the view from Edmund. “Say, King, why don’t you go play tea party with Carmen while I chat with Edmund.”

“Fine, but just so you know, I’m not doing this because I like tea parties!” King declared as he put on the top hat and monocle he had on him whenever Carmen came over. “Now let the merriment and celebrations commence!”

King ran out of the kitchen as Eda led Edmund upstairs into Luz’s old room. Eda had tried her best to change as little about as she could. It felt like a little piece of Luz was always here. Strange posters of cartoon characters were everywhere. There were cages for pets Luz would find. Traps for when the pets broke out. Even the bed Eda had gotten for Luz was still the same one from after the first month Luz was here. Back when it was highly probably Luz wouldn’t be able to leave.

_ When did they all grow up?  _ Eda wondered as she sat on the old bed.  _ Maybe I just got lucky and got to see them come into their own. Lord knows Camila sure gave Luz all her best, I was just there to show Luz what she could really do. _

Edmund sat down and took out his ear buds.  _ He really does look like both of them. Amity’s eyes but that hair is my Luz’s through and through. He also got Amity’s ears, so did she, must be a dominant gene or whatever Camila said it was when she saw them. _

“Look kid, I’m gonna level with you, you’re hurting your moms,” Eda said, going for the rip the band-aid off approach. “I get it you’re a teen, your body is all bleugh, your parent’s want you to be their little kid but you’re not, school sucks. But there’s a line for when you’re fighting a system and being cold.”

“I’m not trying to hurt them,” Edmund said quietly.

“Yeah well that’s-“

“I’m really not Eda, I’m trying my best.”

“You’re best huh? So you’re not disrupting professors with glyphs to release plants in the room? Definitely wouldn’t mix up all the potion ingredients so that the whole school is engulfed in fog? Oh, can’t forget the banshees in the cafeteria fridges.”

“How did you- “

“Know, easy I did it all kiddo, but from what I heard you’re picking fights too.”

“It’s not that simple.” Edmund scowled and looked away.

“Try me.”

Edmund stood up and walked over to one of the posters one the wall.

“You remember the first fight I got into?” Edmund was studying the poster intently, trying to figure out what about the weirdly buff japanese cartoon man Luz had found appealing.

“I remember that night,” Eda’s voice sounded hollow. “Luz called and talked for hours, you had a black eye and lost that tooth of yours. Only that wasn’t why she was scared; you sent that kid to the infirmary with a broken arm.”

“Yep, that was after I lost, and I do mean lost, the tooth,” Edmund put his finger where the tooth used to be. “I don’t remember why we were fighting, probably something I had done. That was the 1st fight, on my record I’ve been in 20 fights since then.”

“On the record?” Eda’s voice rose with concern. “What about off the record.”

“I don’t keep count, don’t want to,” Edmund turned back to Eda. “At this point anyone who wants to fight me is either an idiot transfer who wants an instant rep or someone wanting a rematch.”

“Look kid, I’m not a psychic here. I know you get in fights so what are you trying to tell me.”

“I’m trying to say,” Edmund struggled to find the words. “I’m not fighting because I want to. I’m not doing these pranks because I find them funny. There’s this thing I have to do but no one knows what it is.”

“Well tell me!”

“I… can’t… the whole point of this is that no one can know because I have to lose!.”

“Lose what?” Eda stood up, frustrated at Edmund’s circular logic. “Lose your opportunities? Lose your moms? Edmund I don’t understand.”

“Eda I’m scared!” Edmund’s entire tone shifted from sullen to afraid. He looked like he was actually going to cry. He sunk to the floor and buried his head in his arms. “I made a promise to myself that I don’t want to keep but I have to. I’m not proud that I’m where I am but it’s the only thing I can do to keep this promise.”

“Kid,” Eda walked over to Edmund. “Whatever this promise is you shouldn’t have to bear it alone. And you’re not alone. You’ve two brilliant moms, you’ve got the ex-most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, Luz’s friends, maybe Hooty. Heck, Camilla would do anything for you kids without magic on her side.” 

“I don’t know if they’ll understand.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”

Edmund looked up at Eda, a ‘come one kid, pull yourself together’ smile was on her face and she held out for him to grab. Edmund grabbed her hand and got off the ground.

“Man you're a heavy kid, you didn’t use to weigh this much.”

“I’m 14 now, just wait until I hit my growth spurt.”

Eda made her way to the door “Kid when you actually grow up I’ll be amazed.”

“Wait”

Eda took her hand off the door knob.

“Yeah kid?”

“What I said doesn’t leave this room,” Edmund’s sullenness was coming back, but he still sounded vulnerable. 

“Of course, but remember what I said okay, you shouldn’t try and deal with this on your own.”

Edmund walked over to her and gave her a hug. “Thanks Eda, love you.”

“Love you too kiddo.” Eda hugged him back.  _ Man, when did I start missing hugs? _

As Edmund left the room, Eda took one last look around. That time with Luz were the best days of her life. Now Luz is having that longer than Eda ever could with her.

“Sure do miss you kiddo.”

Eda flicked off the light and shut the door. Coming into the living room King and Carmen were deep into their tea party. Edmund sat on the couch, holding a teacup while he selected a new song from his MP3 player.

“If trade deals are to continue as planned,” King sipped tea as he laid out business plans. “We’ll need to ratify the stuffed animal treaties of 1898.”

“But the fluffy kingdom needs it’s stuffed animals!” Carmen clutched onto the stuffed bear next to her. “Can’t we just get more cookies from the empereress of kitchiana?”

“For Lady Carmen of the fluffy kingdom, anything,” Eda said as she walked into the kitchen. Amity and Luz were talking to each other quietly.

“Luz I really don’t know if this is what’s right.” Amity was saying, quieting as Eda came in but resuming after seeing who it was. “We should try talking to him ourselves before we send him to a counselor.”

“We’ve tried talking to him,” Luz sounded exacerbated. “I’ve tried, you tried, Eda’s tried right?”

Luz looked at Eda and Eda was surprised by just how tired she looked. It reminded Eda of when she was just battling the curse.  _ Hard to blame her, she’s dealing with Edmund day in and out.  _

“We talked,” Eda started, trying to honor what she told Edmund about not telling. “He opened up a little but not enough for me to say what’s wrong. It’s not my place but I think counseling might be the right choice.”

“See!” Luz looked at Amity vindicated. “Eda agrees with me, why won’t you!”

“Luz I’m trying to do what’s best for Edmund too!” Amity raised her voice. “Right now he needs us to be there, if we both sit down and talk to him I’m sure he’ll listen.”

“How would both of us talking to him at once help?!” Luz held up her hand to hit her points home. “Edmund isn’t talking to either of us so of course he’ll talk to both of us! Why didn’t we try it before? I remember, because when we were going to you decided to wait!”

“He wasn’t ready then, he had been in a fight and was tired!”

“He’s always in a fight!”

“Hey!”

Luz and Amity stopped fighting and looked at Eda. She turned around and opened a cookie jar and pulled out a stack of gingerdead cookies. Then she turned and looked at Luz and Amity.

“Look, whatever you guys are going to do, you need to do it soon. I told Edmund I wouldn’t talk about what he said to me and I don’t intend to break that trust. What I can say is that what he said shocked me. So get him counseling or talk to him or ignore it, but that kid isn’t slowing down for you guys to make your decision. Now, I’m going to give those kids some cookies.”

Eda walked to the door, before she made it out Luz grabbed her arm.

“Eda, please, I need to know, what did Edmund say?” Luz’s voice was desperate and tired.

“Luz,” Eda was stuck between a rock and a hard place. “Honestly I don’t fully understand it, but there’s something Edmund thinks he needs to do. That’s all I can say.”

Eda brought out the cookies, handing everyone in the living room one. She sat down and rejoined the party. After a few minutes Luz and Amity walked out of the kitchen. Neither looked happy, but Amity forced a smile as she started talking. 

“Time to go home guys, we’ve got school tomorrow.”

“Can’t they stay a little longer,” King pleaded, running over to Carmen. “We finally found a compromise for the snack shortages!”

“Amity’s right,” Eda stood up and walked over to Carmen and King and gave them both hugs. “This little lady needs some rest, besides, we’ll see her soon.”

Eda walked over to Edmund, still munching on his cookie. He stood up and hugged Eda.

“Bye Eda, love you.”

“Love you too kiddo,” Eda hugged him a little harder. “Remember what I said okay.”

Edmund nodded and let go of Eda. Amity was next to receive a hug, she was still wearing the forced smile but the hug was genuine.

“Night Eda,” Amity said softly.

Eda walked over to Luz, the poor woman seemed so lost and afraid.

“Luz, everything will be okay,” Eda said as she wrapped her arms around Luz. “I’m right here if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” Luz responded, sounding even more broken than earlier. 

The Blight-Nocedas left, leaving King and Eda alone in the living room.

“BYE! I LOVE YOU ALL! ESPECIALLY YOU LITTLE LUZ/AMITY THING!” They heard Hooty shout to the leaving family.

“So, the snack shortages huh?” Eda looked at the proud king of demons with a smirk.

“Hey, you try being a diplomat to a 6 year old and coming out on top!”

“I’d rather play with Carmen than have to be Luz and Amity’s parent, than go and be Edmund’s aunt.”

Eda picked up King and sat with him on the couch.  _ Good luck guys _ , Eda thought as she stroked King,  _ if anyone can work past all this it’s you. _


	4. Never Just One Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Hey guys, thanks for all the positive feedback and likes from last week's chapters. I'm going to try a new release schedule starting this week. I'm posting 2 chapters today, then I'll be posting a new chapter on Wednesday and Sunday. This gives you guys more content overtime and me more motivation to keep working. For now, I hope you like these new chapters and I'll see you next week!)

Luz always loved the feeling of wind flowing through her hair. The night sky was still and peaceful as the Blight-Nocedas made their way back home after their visit with Eda. Carmen sat with her arms spread out, giggling as the wind blew her straight brown hair. 

“Mama go faster!”

“Faster?” Luz said with a chuckle. “Any faster and you’ll fall off.”

“You’ll catch me though, you always do.”

The smile wavered on Luz’s face. “Let’s just keep going this fast tonight, mama’s tired.”

Luz looked behind her at Amity and Edmund. They were completely silent next to each other. Edmund’s expression had softened since his talk with Eda.

_ I wonder what she told him,  _ Luz wondered _. She’s been there for Edmund since he was born. He really looks up to her. We all do but she doesn’t want him to like her. I know Amity’s at the end of her rope, so am I. I’m dealing with this every hour at school then every evening at home.  _

Amity caught Luz’s stare and waved. Luz waved back and returned her attention to Carmen.

_ And Carmen had to deal with her lack of magic on her first day. I was a teenager and used to being the odd-person-out when I came here. For a 6 year old to have to deal with that, will she be okay? I could’ve told Mrs. Abbott not to talk about it unless Carmen was okay with it. I could’ve told Carmen people might not understand her magic. I could’ve… I could’ve done better six years ago. _

Luz adjusted her grip on Carmen, bringing her closer to her. 

“Mama, there’s home!”

Luz looked down at their home, a medium sized two story building. It was close enough to the school that they could walk there without much trouble. I was next to the forest, but more importantly it was close to the Grom tree Luz and Amity had made when they fought the nightmare monster. When they had shared their first dance together.

Luz began to descend, struggling to keep her grip on both the staff and Carmen. She landed softly and put Carmen safely on the ground. The little girl ran up to the door.

“Hurry Mama! I need to use the bathroom!.”

“Okay, don’t shout Carmen,” Luz hurried after her, opening the door and turning on the lights. Carmen ran past her, kicking off her shoes and throwing her backpack aside as she ran in.

Luz walked into the house, picking up after her daughter. Edmund walked in and avoided bumping into Luz.

“Edmund, can you-” Luz started to say but Edmund kept walking.

“Can’t, got homework,” Edmund called as he made his way upstairs.

“Okay,” Luz said softly as Amity entered their house. She walked over to the couch and laid face down. She screamed into the cushions, making a muffled sound no one but Luz could hear. Luz finished putting away Carmen’s things and walked over. Sitting on the edge of the couch by Amity’s legs.

“Hey,” Luz reached over and started calmly rubbing her wife’s knees. “So we didn’t have a great day for the Blight-Nocedas. Things will get better.”

“How can you say that?” Amity asked, her voice still muffled. “Our daughter is already her classes’ target for bullies, Edmund didn’t make it halfway through the day before getting sent to Bump. I’m reaching out but all he’s doing is pulling back and I’m worried he’s going to go too far back and fall. I know you’re trying too but you’re his teacher on top of being his mom.”

“Amity,” Luz grabbed Amity’s hand. “I’m sorry, this is my fault.”

Amity pushed herself into a sitting position.

“No Luz,” Amity said as she reached for Luz’s face. “You’re doing a great job, Edmund isn’t doing this because of you, I didn’t mean to-”

“I’m not talking about Edmund,” Luz’s gaze went to the floor. Amity pulled her hand away from her.

“Luz, we… we’ve been over this. There was no way you could have known.”

“Yes there was, you told me I shouldn’t have gone but I did. Carmen wouldn’t have been bullied or attacked today if I had just listened to you.”

Tears welled up in Luz’s eyes. Amity fought to hold back tears of her own.

“Carmen is the sweetest thing,” Luz said, her voice cracking. “I’m supposed to be her mom and right from the start I had failed her. Now she’s going to struggle everyday to do what others can do without thinking about it.”

“Hey!” Amity stood up and stared down at Luz “I’m not letting the bravest person I know sit there and cry. You showed everyone that anyone can do magic. I know this isn’t the life you wanted for our daughter but it’s the life she has. So stand up and repeat after me: we can fix this together!”

Luz wiped her eyes and looked at Amity’s outreached hand, smiling as she grabbed it.

“We can fix this together.”

Amity pulled Luz off the couch. The two witches looked deep into each other’s eyes.

“I really don’t know what I did to deserve you Amity.”

“Luz, you changed my life for the better. Everyday I get to wake up to the most beautiful, determined, woman I’ve ever met. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.” 

Luz and Amity laughed, and Luz brought her hand up to Amity’s face. She closed her eyes, bringing her head closer to Amity’s. Amity did the same, and the two shared a soft, tender kiss. 

“Mom, I have homework!”

The two broke off their kiss as Carmen dumped the contents of her backpack on the floor.

“Can you help Carmen?” Luz asked Amity. “I’m going to try and speak with Edmund.”

“Of course,” Amity got on the floor and started helping Carmen go through the mess she made. “What’s first sweetie?”

“I need to copy these runes. Edmund started but I need to finish.”

Luz walked over to the stairs, taking a deep breath before she started climbing. Edmund’s room was directly across from theirs, and he had posted an ‘Enter at your own risk’ sign on it. Luz gave a knock before crocking the door open.

“Edmund, can I come in?” Luz asked softly.

“Sure,” was the sullen response from inside the room.

Luz opened the door and stepped into the room. Clothes were strewn about on the floor. The walls had no decorations except for string lights that Edmund had thrown up last year. His drawer had a few photos of him when he was younger, some with Luz, some with Amity, some with all three. Most prominently shown was one of him with Carmen after she had been brought home. His smile stretched across his face, promising the world he would be the best big brother ever!

Edmund himself sat on his bed, earbuds in while reading a science fiction book Camila got him.

“I thought I asked you to take care of your clothes.”

Edmund looked down from the book.

“Hm? Oh, yeah sorry. Is that all?”

“Is that all?” Lus pinched the bridge of her nose. “Of course that’s not all, it’s never just one thing with you. You said you were going to do homework and you’re reading instead. You said you would try to be on your best behavior today and you wound up with detention.”

“So it’s lecture time with the teacher?” Edmund put his book down and took out his earbuds. “Let’s have it.”

“Why do you do this?” Luz asked with desperation. “I don’t want to have to fight you all the time.”

“Then don’t!” Edmund retorted. “You can just ignore me and then it’ll stop bothering you.” 

“Estoy tan cansado de pelear contigo, I can’t do that Edmund.”

“Then I’m sorry Mom,” Edmund picked up his book and flipped it open.

Luz walked to the door, stopping before she opened it.

“We’re going to talk with counselors Edmund. I’m setting up an appointment for this week. Things have to change Hijo.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“You did,” Luz turned around to look at Edmund. “Now we’re out of options. I wish we didn’t need to do this.”

Edmund sighed and lowered the book a little.

“Me too, te quiero Mama.”

Luz looked back to the door.

“Te quiero Hijo, please do your homework.”

Luz shut the door and walked back downstairs. Amity and Carmen were on the floor smiling and filling out her work. Amity turned around as Luz approached them.

“Hey,” Amity’s voice dropped as Luz sat down. “How did it go?”

“We’re doing counseling,” Luz said with a hollow voice.

“Luz!” A shocked look came over Amity’s face “We were still discussing it.”

“You’re right,” Luz sat down next to the two. “But I’m tired. Please understand Amity, I can’t keep fighting him.”

Amity’s face fell as she looked back to Carmen’s homework. “Alright, if you really think this will help I’ll set up an appointment tomorrow.”

“What’s counseling?” Carmen asked.

Luz and Amity shared a silent conversation of who should talk. Luz looked at her daughter, the wonderful little thing she and Amity loved with all their hearts. Her light brown skin, pointed ears, button nose, straight brown hair, brown eyes. She was  _ their  _ daughter in every way, one of the blessings of living in a world of magic.

“Well,” luz started, trying to find the right words. “You know how Edmund has been in a lot of trouble for a few years now?”

“Like today?”

“Not just today, it’s been happening for a lot longer than we wanted to admit. The school’s worried that Edmund might have to leave if he keeps on misbehaving. So we’re going to meet with a counselor, that’s someone who’s going to ask Edmund some questions and see if he can’t figure out what’s wrong.”

“Is Edmund broken like me?”

“No, neither of you are broken.” Luz reached over and grabbed Carmen’s hands. “He’s just upset at something and we need to figure out what it is so we can fix it.”

“Is he upset at me? I’ve been trying to be good but I know we fight sometimes.”

“Carmen,” Amity said softly as she patted Carmen’s head. “Edmund loves you, you could never do anything to make him this mad. The truth is no one knows why Edmund’s mad, maybe not even Edmund, so we just need to support him and hope the counselor can help.”

“Okay,” Carmen went back to paper, before looking back up. “Can the counselor figure out my magic?”

“I…” Luz started to say before trailing off. Amity reached over to Luz’s hand, putting her’s on top of it.

“Carmen, I know it’s hard to understand, but there’s nothing anyone can do about your magic. So we need to be thankful mama can teach you all about glyphs.”

Carmen nodded before going back to her work. Amity looked back at Luz, who started to stand up, her expression clouded.

“I’m going to work on laundry,” Luz said in a distant voice.

“You sure, I think we’ll be okay,” Amity said, trying to get her wife to stay.

“No, I need to do laundry,” Luz left the living room and headed into the basement. 

Luz pulled out a pad of paper and quickly sketched out the light glyph. The basement glowed in a soft white light as she looked for the chord to the light. A quick pull and the lone light came on. The basement was small, a tub for washing, a dryer, all powered with magic. She pulled out a couple of water and soap glyphs she kept on the shelf and put them in the tub. As the water poured in, Luz started crying. She kept it quiet, but it had been built up for too long. She knew Amity was feeling the same as her. Both had worked hard to be together, it hadn’t been easy but they fought for their right to be together.

Amity had to give up so much, more than Luz could believe. Her parents hated Luz just because she was human. Ed and Em teased but they proved they supported Luz and Amity when they stood up to their parents countless times to have Amity’s back. The only difference was that Ed and Em could visit Blight Manor whenever they wanted, Amity could go if she brought the kids, but not if she brought Luz. So far Amity’s parents still haven’t met their grandchildren.

Camila was difficult at first, which never surprised Luz. She took the whole ‘your daughter can do magic and lives with a witch and demon’ better than ‘your daughter is in love with a girl’ when she and Amity came out to her. Things were rocky, but Camila came around after a while. Seeing your only daughter happy and in love can change you. Camila even gave Amity her permission to marry Luz when she had asked. Then after Edmund was born Camila honestly looked into moving to the Boiling Isles. 

_ She loved that baby, she loved Amity _ , Luz thought to herself.  _ We were all we had in the human world. As I became more a part of this one, I never realized how little I saw her until Edmund came. _

The sound of water flowing stopped but Luz was still crying. Edmund had changed everything for Luz and Amity. He was this thing neither knew they needed until they had him. Amity had volunteered to carry him and Luz knew why: regardless of the magic used, Edmund was half-human, half-witch. Amity wanted to protect Luz from something going wrong. No one knew what would happen with Edmund’s magical and non-magical nature. 

Thankfully, everything went perfect, Amity gave birth to a healthy boy. Luz remembered the first time she held him, this perfect thing the two had made. The doctors confirmed that he had a healthy functional magic sac. 

_ I think we both were relieved at that _ , Luz thought as she started throwing clothes in the tub.  _ It would’ve been fine if he couldn’t do magic, I was fine with that, but I knew how hard it would be for him to learn glyphs when everyone else could do it on their own. _

Edmund brought challenges that were as hard as anything the two witches had faced as teenagers. Parenting while working was hard enough, let alone their little bundle of joy accidently causing fires or making the house plants attack. Still, everyday also brought new joys for them. Then Edmund started school, and Luz realized how quiet the house had become in the evenings. Edmund was growing up, she always knew he was but it really hit her when he was sitting quietly at the table doing homework. He was growing up and soon he wouldn’t be her little boy. 

_ That’s when I decided I wanted another kid,  _ Luz finished loading the tub. She reached up and grabbed another glyph from the shelf. She put it in the tub, which started swirling around.  _ I wanted another kid and I wanted to carry it _ .

Footsteps interrupted Luz’s train of thought. She could tell from the sound exactly who it was.

“I’m almost done here Amity,” Luz said, pretending to be working. “Go back upstairs please.”

“Luz, I’ve known you for 23 years,” Amity said as she walked over to Luz. She put her arms around the human she’d fallen for all that time ago. “I know you’re upset and you don’t want me to see because you’re the brave and courageous one. Well I’m upset too so we might as well be upset together.”

Luz turned around and buried herself into Amity’s shoulder.

“I just wanted them to be safe,” Luz said crying. “I wanted them to have the lives we wanted as kids. Where they could be themselves and not have to worry about what we thought of them.”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Amity held Luz as close as she could. “It’s just the first day, Carmen was telling me about the new friends she made after lunch. I think things will be okay for her starting tomorrow.”

Amity let go of Luz and wiped her eyes.

“Now, Carmen needs to go to bed and she really wants mama to tuck her in and sing her a song.”

“Okay,” Luz said, trying to regain her composure. “Why don’t we do it together, it’s been a while since we both tucked her in.”

“Yeah, that’ll be nice.”

The two witches went back upstairs. Bedtime turned into a story, a song, a glass of water, and another song before Carmen finally was down for the night. Amity let Edmund know that it was lights out at 9:30, Luz didn’t hear a response but Amity closed his door anyway. After a while the parents also went to bed. Luz couldn’t sleep, her mind racing with ideas as Amity softly snored beside her.

_ Tomorrow will be better _ , Luz told herself,  _ for all of us. _

  
  



	5. Bad Omens

The second day of school for Edmund started out much like the first. He slept through spelling 101, and through Intro to Oracle. For Advanced Runes Edmund was actually awake. Though his reasoning for that wasn’t academic in the slightest.

“Now, as we can see, the ancient tale of the Drummer’s of Dwemmer does in fact mention that the drummer didn’t drop tempo till Dustin doubted his rhythm. Thus stopping the spell and sealing the dwarves in dastardly dangers.”

Edmund glanced at the clock over the, almost time. The runes professor rattled on until the bell tolled for lunch.

“Alright class, assignments in the front on the desk,” the professor called as students gathered their belongings.

Edmund slung his satchel over his shoulder and headed to the front of the class, pulling out a piece of paper. He was about to put it on the desk when the professor snatched it out of his hand.

“Not so fast Mr. Blight-Noceda,” the professor looked at the paper intently. “I seem to recall last year you used cursed ink on your paper and it came alive and attacked me.”

“Well, I hate to disappoint but this is an honest paper,” Edmund said, wearing a cheshire cat grin. “No cursed ink left in our house.”

The professor eyed Edmund carefully, before returning his attention to the paper. 

“Well, color me impressed,” the Professor said with a sigh. He put it on his desk. “Thank you Edmund, hopefully we see this behavior continue.”

“Of course, Oh!” Edmund pulled out a pencil. “Just forgot to write my name on it, do you mind?”

The Professor gestured to the paper, Edmunds quickly wrote his name, being especially sure to dot the ‘i’ in Blight. Edmund walked out as a line of students started adding on top of Edmunds paper. Edmund walked just outside the classroom and leaned against the wall.

“Five, four, three, two…” Edmund snapped his fingers as a bang came out from the runes room. Students and the professor screamed as hundreds of spirits flew out of the homework pile, finding the nearest student and telling them all the gruesome ways they would die. As students ran out, the spirits followed, flooding the hall with predictions of doom. Edmund pulled a notebook and wrote down in it as he began walking down the hall.

  
  


_ So glyph size can be countered by chaining them together,  _ Edmund thought and wrote. _ No one can prove it was me, the professor checked that paper out more thoroughly than Bump filling out a report.  _

Edmund turned a corner to find himself face to face with one of his spirits.

“ _ Your doom is behind you _ .”

“Yeah right,” Edmund waved his arm through the spirit, making it fade out of existence. “Like anything here could be-”

“EDMUND!” Luz’s voice rang down from the hall.

_ My doom, yep, this time she might actually kill me,  _ Edmund thought as he started racing down the halls. Edmund had done this dance long enough to know where most of the school’s shortcuts and secrets were. All he had to do was hope Luz didn’t know or had forgotten where they were.

Up the stairs, left, right, straight down the corridor, into the room of shortcuts, out through the locker, and right in front of the homeroom. Edmund checked to make sure the coast was clear. Students were still running from spirits, hiding in whatever room they could find. Edmund walked over to his homeroom door.

_ Alright Edmund, focus, you’ve been chased by spirits telling you how you would die. Just play it traumatized and no one will be the wiser. _

Edmund readied his ‘freaked out’ face and opened the door. 

“Oh my gosh guys, did you all-”

Edmund was grabbed by the arm and dragged out of the class before he could take two steps in.

“Ow ow ow ow ow!” Edmund cried out mostly out of embarrassment as Luz dragged him down the hall. “Mom, let go! What did I do?”

“What did you do?'' anger flowing in every syllable. “I’m surprised those spirits didn’t tell you. Or that they didn’t tell you what would happen when I caught you.”

“I didn’t do that, just ask Mr. Grodius. He inspected my paper before I turned it in.”

Luz stopped walking but didn’t let go of Edmund’s arm. He kept squirming but trying to break Luz’s grip was like trying to crack open a safe. 

“Let me get this straight,” Luz started sarcastically. “YOU actually did your homework? YOU actually turned it in on time? THEN, SOMEHOW, all the classes’ homework spontaneously exploded into spirits? All the while YOU just happened to start running when I called your name?”

“I figured you would blame me,” Edmund put on his best innocent voice.

“Edmund,” Luz’s voice dropped the sarcasm and went flat. “I do blame you.”

“What?!” Edmund stopped fighting Luz and just looked at her. “But there’s no evidence that…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Luz started walking again, Edmund following in disbelief. “You’re working through lunch cleaning out the Beast Keeping stables.”

“What?! This isn’t fair.”

“No it’s not Edmund,” Luz said coldly. “No it’s not.”

Edmund’s face turned to a scowl as he followed Luz out of the school towards a large barn. Inside were the dozens of specimens of magical creatures the school kept for educational purposes, as well as pest control.

“You know the drill,” Luz let go of Edmund’s arm. “I’m staying out here till lunch is over.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Edmund muttered as he grabbed a shovel.

“You’re right, if I leave you alone you’ll clean out the barn and not leave all the flying snake cages unlocked to terrorize the 1st graders. OH WAIT, you did do that last time didn’t you?”

“It was the 4th graders,” Edmund mumbled.

“What was that?”

“I SAID IT WAS THE FOURTH GRADERS!!” Edmund yelled and threw the shovel on the ground. “Not like you’d care though, because all that matters is that it made you look bad.”

“What was that?” Luz’s voice took a dangerous tone.

“You heard me,” Edmund folded his arms across his chest. “You don’t care about whether or not I’m doing well in classes or serving my 6th consecutive detention. All that matters is I’m this stain on your reputation and you’ve got to make sure everyone knows I’m being treated.”

The two starred each other down. The late-summer sun high above their heads. The sounds of the younger kids on the playground could be heard in the distance, but to Luz and Edmund everything was silent. Neither refused to budge. Then Luz turned around.

“....okay,” Luz said emotionlessly. “Work until lunch is over and then go back to class. Or don’t work until lunch is over then go back to class. Just don’t do anything else stupid today.”

Luz headed back towards the castle. Stopping before she got to the door to say one more thing to Edmund.

“I don’t think you’re a stain, I love you Edmund.”

Luz turned back around and headed back into the school. Edmund remained in place until he was sure no one could see him. Then he fell onto the hay strewn floor, pulling out his MP3 player (old tech for humans but perfect for a witch in a world with no cellphones) and turned on some music. 

_Sorry Eda,_ Edmund thought, _but_ _Mama won’t understand._

Edmund looked around the barn. It wasn’t a horrible mess, but there were some notable areas in the stables that needed work. Edmund liked it out here, sometimes he wished that he chose the beast keeping tract along with the other two. But that wouldn’t have fit with this image he worked so hard to cultivate. The devil may care attitude and punk-rock loving teenager wasn’t supposed to be into anything. Well, except his family, that was the one thing Edmund liked, and he might have just broken part of that.

Sighing, Edmund stood up and grabbed the shovel. He walked over to the griffin cage and opened the door.

“You tell anyone I’m doing this without being told and you’re dead!” Edmund threatened the griffin, which simply stared at him.

The lunch hour rolled on, Edmund had made it through 3 stables and half an album.

_ Could have been worse,  _ Edmund thought, getting ready to lift up a full waste-bag.  _ At least there’s no one out- _

“HEY!” a boy’s voice rang from the other side of the barn.

_ Of course,  _ Edmund thought as he turned around. At the front of the barn were three boys, all about Edmunds age, he recognized one of them from his runes class. The middle was taller than Edmund, and looked to be in better shape than Edmund, and seemed like he really wanted to punch Edmund.

“You the jerk that released those oracle things?” The middle boy asked as the three boys got closer. Edmund looked at their uniforms, figuring out what he would be up against. The kid who was in his class had the illusion tract’s light blue, no big threat there. The so far unknown kid had green from the plant tract. That left the big one, Edmund didn’t need a second to know he would be in the construction tract.

“No, I’m an innocent victim of circumstance,” Edmund tried out his best innocent voice on the boys, which Edmund could tell they didn’t buy.

“Oh, it was you all right, everyone knows it,” piped up the illusions kid. “The whole school knows your reputation Edmund Blight.”

“Noceda,” Edmund said, dropping the innocent act.

“Huh?” all three kids looked between each other.

“My name is Edmund Blight-Noceda,” Edmund said rolling his neck. “And if you guys are looking for a fight I already had one with my mom just now and I don’t want another.”

The bigger kid laughed, the other two joined but looked at each other correctly worried.

“Aww,” the big kid wiped his eyes mockingly. “Did little baby get spanked by mommy? I don’t care who you are, you’re toast.”

“Hey Jeremy,” the plant tract kid spoke up. “His mom’s a teacher here, she’s a big deal, maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

“Come on Percy,” the big kid whose name Edmund assumed was Jeremy, gave the plant tract witch a shove. “Who cares about that, this kid’s got a reputation, once I deck this fool that’ll be all mine.”

“Like I said,” Edmund turned his back on them to readjust the waste-bag. “I already had a fight, I don’t want my sister to-”

“Oh, little babies got a sister huh!’ Jeremy taunted. Edmund’s eyes widened, realizing the mistake he made. “Maybe we should pay her a visit? We can tell her her big brother sent us to surprise her! How does that sound mama’s boy?”

Edmund stood up straight and cracked his knuckles.

“Do you really want to fight me?”

Jeremy gave a hearty chuckle.

“More than anything.”

“Alright, two rules then,” Edmund turned around, his eyes lit infernos of anger. “One: if I win, anyone that asks about the fight you have to take full responsibility for starting it, I’ll do the same if I lose.”

“Sounds fair,” Jeremy shook up his shoulders readying himself. “What’s the second rule?”

“You leave my sister alone. This rule applies to whoever wins. If I find out you messed with her, even if you didn’t know it was her, then I will be back.”

“Really, that’s pretty confident for a kid who’s about to get his butt handed to him.”

“Believe me, messing with my sister will be the last mistake you make,” Edmund took out his earbuds and pocketed them. “Do you agree to those terms?”

“Oh yeah,” Jeremy smiled and breathed in. “This will be fun.”

“Okay then, come at me,” Edmund declared, getting into a basic fighting stance.

Silence hung in the barn for a second, then Jeremy bellowed and charged. Edmund smiled.  _ Man this guy is basic _ , he thought to himself as his opponent was right on top of him fist raised. Right before the punch connected, Edmund ducked out of the way and stuck out his leg to trip the kid. Already off balance from the punch, Jeremy helplessly fell into the open bag of animal crap Edmund had reopened. Squelching sounds filled the barn as the contents of the bag exploded, covering Jeremy.

“Oh my gosh is this-” Jeremy started, pulling himself out of the bag. He sniffed at himself, pulling his head back and gagging before looking at Edmund with murderous eyes. “You are so dead man!!”

Jeremy reached into his pocket and pulled out a power glyph, a signature of the construction tract and titular coven. He slapped it on his arm, an aura appearing around him. He turned to his friends, still waiting to act.

“Common dudes, help hold him down!”

Percy nodded and waved his hand in a circle, roots shot up from underneath Edmund, who rolled away just in time to avoid being ensnared. The illusion tract kid performed a copy spell, creating two more of him and sending them to Edmund.

_ Wow,  _ Edmund thought as he drew a circle of his own.  _ It’s not just the big one, they’re all basic! _

“Abomination: rise!” Edmund ordered as a simple purple goo monster arose from the floor. “Abomination: attack!”

Edmund’s monster headed towards the illusions. One of the illusions tried to kick the monster, only to have his foot lodge in it. The other dodged the monster and tried the same thing on Edmund. Fortunately, the clone wasn’t a fighter, one clean kick from Edmund made it vanish. 

“Got you now!”

Edmund turned around to see Jeremy barreling towards him again, each step making the ground shake. Edmund reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He tapped it and threw it on the ground. In a split second the ice underneath Jeremy froze over, causing him to fall.

“Wo- woah!” Jeremy landed flat on his back. He struggled to get up, his own impatience getting in the way. “What is this? How did you make this appear?”

“You’re not the only one with glyphs.” Edmund retorted as he turned his attention to Percy.

“St.. Stay back man!” Percy drew circle after circle, but his magic wasn’t nearly at Edmund’s level, who effortlessly dodged the roots and vines thrown at him. Edmund drew another circle, this time a spirit flew out of it.

“OH NO NOT AGAIN!” The illusion kid shouted and ran, his clone disappearing in a puff of smoke. The sprit flew towards Percy, who needed but a split second to decide this was enough for him and followed his friend.

_ Well, looks like that’s-  _ Edmund turned around only to have his face meet Jeremy’s fist.

“HA, TAKE THAT!” Jeremy shouted as Edmund went flying across the barn. He crashed against the griffin’s gate, which shrieked in response.

Edmund didn’t need to be in the healing tract to know his face was bruised, probably had a black eye too. The room was spinning, but he could still see Jeremy, slowly walking over to him, laughing obnoxiously loud. Edmund smiled through the pain.

_ We both made the same mistake, we both thought we won the fight before it was over.  _ Edmund reached into his pocket, slyly looking at his premade glyphs.  _ This dude’s tough, I’ll give him that,  _ Edmund thought as Jeremy gloated over him.  _ Keep talking dummy, give me time to plan for the next move. _

“So looks like I beat the tough and unstoppable Edmund Blight. If you think that the deal I made with you holds up you’re mistaken. You’re my punching bag from now on. Oh and that sister of yours, if I meet her, she’s toast too.”

“I… told… you…,” Edmund said through gasps, finding the glyph he was looking for and putting it underneath him. “It’s Edmund Blight-Noceda!”

Edmund tapped the glyph, and a group of vines sent him flying over Jeremy. Edmund landed as gracefully as he could, staggering and disoriented still from Jeremy’s punch. He drew two circles in front of him, guiding them towards each other. They pulsed and shook as they fused into one massive circle.

“And I told you to leave MY SISTER ALONE!”

A giant wad of purple goo flew out of the circle, landing on Jeremy’s back. It started spreading, little hands dragging the muck across the giant 13 year old.

“What… what’s this?! Get it off of ME!’ Jeremy clawed at the goo, only for it to start coating his hands and arms. A mouth opened in the goo.

“ _ I see a hard landing for you,”  _ The mouth gurgled out. Jeremy screamed as the goo started writhing, wrappings shooting out and grabbing the barn door frames.

“Hey Jeremy!” Edmund cried, and the once confident kid turned to face Edmund. “This never happened, and it won’t happen again right?!”

Jeremy nodded profusely, as the wrappings began to grow taut between him and the door.

“Then have a nice flight,” Edmund waved goodbye to Jeremy as the wrappings exploded forward, hurling Jeremy across the barn, launching him several feet into the air. He landed midway between the barn and the school, flat on his face. Jeremy picked himself up and scrambled back into the school.

The moment Jeremy was back inside, Edmund doubled over and fell to his knees. He hadn’t been challenged like that in a while. Especially with that sucker punch, his face was going to be a red flag for mom for what happened today.

“Woah, that was intense!” Edmund looked up towards the barn door. A young witch walked into view from behind the barn door. Her uniform was grey, meaning she wasn’t old enough to select a tract yet.

“Listen, I don’t know what you think you saw...” Edmund said as he stood up. “But whatever it was it wasn’t-”

“A fight?” The girl got closer, she looked incredibly familiar to Edmund. She had bluish hair done in Bob and green eyes _._ “Sure, but the barn’s a mess and it really looks like there was a fight.”

“Okay, so now what, you report me to Bump and get a gold sticker?”

“No, don’t you recognize me Edmund?” The girl asked. Edmund looked at the girl, she did seem familiar, like Mama’s friend.

“Oh yeah, you’re Willow’s daughter… Margle?”

“Maple,” the witch sighed. “My name is Maple, we used to play together all the time when we were younger.”

“So?” Edmund stretched himself out and looked around the barn. Maple was right, it was a disaster. “Look, I’ve got about half an hour to clean this up, if there’s something you need or whatever make it quick.”

“I just... “ Maple looked at the ground. “I just didn’t want to be alone.”

The witch turned around and started walking away. Edmund sighed, he should be happy she was leaving but instead he felt guilty. What Eda said about not being alone rang in his head. So, against his better judgement and already hating what he was about to do, Edmund did something incredibly out of character.

“Wait,” he called to Maple. “Sorry, I’m not the best people person. If you want to stay while I clean you can. You can talk or whatever.”

“Oh, really?” Maple looked back at Edmund. “I mean, usually I just talk to these guys but if you’d actually want to listen that’d be great.”

“Well, you got half an hour, start talking.”

It took Edmund 2 minutes to get sick of listening to Maple. The witch was 1 year younger than Edmund but had (at least one paper) infinitely more problems than he did. After a while Edmund just tuned her out as he made the barn look not like a warzone. By the time the bell rang Edmund felt like all his bad karma got dished to him in one lunch period. 

“...so then my step-dad was all like ‘you need to make more friends’ but I don’t really like anyone in my class so what’s the point. I mean, they aren’t mean, I just don’t connect with-”

“Listen,” Edmund said bluntly. “This has been… a thing but I’m going back to class before something worse happens to me.”

“Oh, well we can keep talking tomorrow.”

“No, WE can’t keep talking,” Edmund left the barn and headed back inside. He stopped at his locker and realized Maple had followed him.

“Why not, I need someone to talk to and you need someone to-”

“I don’t need anyone,” Edmund said, putting on a cool front. “So thanks but no thanks.”

“For someone who doesn’t need anything it sure seems like you’d need an alibi in case someone told Mrs. Blight-Noceda about that fight.”

Edmund looked from locker to Maple, she had a smirk on and was looking at her nails.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Same place tomorrow, this time you should talk too,” Maple said, smiling as she walked away from Edmund. “Unless you get in trouble again, then I’ll find you.”

“Why me?!” Edmund shouted down the hall.

“Because you’re interesting!” Maple called back and disappeared into the crowd.

_ Great work,  _ Edmund reached back into his locker and pulled out his books,  _ at least this day can’t get much worse. _

  
  



	6. Friendships and Perils

“You just need to make sure the circle is completely filled in,” Carmen explained to Alden, who was carefully studying how she drew the light glyph. “If you don’t do that, then the magic can’t flow properly.”

With a few more pencil strokes, Carmen finished the glyph. She tapped it with her finger, and the paper crinkled up into a ball of light, not as bright as the one she made the previous day but still easily recognizable.

“Wow,” Alden starred at the ball in awe. “Tat’s te coolest ting evaw!”

Carmen smiled; her second day had been going great since she had moved tables. Alden, Basil and Diana were proving to be fast friends and helpful classmates. Right now, it was choice time, right before end of day announcements and dismissal. After spending all of recess begging, Carmen agreed that during choice time she could show him how to make the light glyph. Though they weren’t as upfront as Alden, Basil and Diana were also curious as to how the glyphs worked.

Alden focused on drawing out the circle, shaky and more of an oval than he probably wanted to admit. He added the interior lines, spaced out incorrectly but in more or less the correct areas. Alden breathed in as he raised his pointer finger.

“Please let tis wowk…” Alden pleaded as he brought down his finger on the circle. It wrinkled up, but no light was formed.

Alden sank in his chair defeated. Carmen pulled his drawing pad over to herself. Looking at the circle she could see it was wrong but struggled to explain why it was wrong.

“Well, you got the… umm… circle parts wrong. This triangle part needs to be more pointed on the top. Otherwise you did okay!” Carmen gave Alden a thumbs up. He weakly smiled back at her. Basil and Diana finished up their attempts to draw the glyph.

“Here goesss!” Basil raised his finger and put it on the paper. It barely moved, just kind of crinkling.

“Hmmmmm,” Basil picked up the paper and examined it. “Can I see the demonstration again?”

Carmen nodded and started step by step again. Basil analyzed her carefully, keeping an eye on her and one on his paper, trying to recreate her exact strokes. They finished up together and Basil tried it again, with only slight improvement as the paper shrunk the tiniest amount.

“I don’t understand,” Basil looked at the paper he made and Carmen’s. “Yourssss worksss and mine doesssn’t?”

“Well,” Carmen said, tapping hers only to have it wrinkle without light forming. “Mine only works sometimes still. Mama said that it takes a lot of practice to make the glyphs correctly. Even she struggles to learn new glyphs.”

“I sssssee,” Basil put both eyes back to his paper, opening a new sheet and starting again.

Carmen brought her eyes down to her own paper, only to see a shine of light from where Diana was sitting. Everyone at the table looked up in surprise. Diana’s attention was on the light glyph, only realizing all their eyes were on her when it faded.

“What?” Diana asked, looking away from everyone.

“Tat was amazing!” Alden exclaimed, the fire relighting inside him.

“All I did was what Carmen showed us,” Diana said, trying to shrink in her chair.

“But none of usss could do it on our first try.”

Carmen got up and walked over, crouching in front of Diana so she could see her.

“We just think it’s cool you did it, sorry if we’re embarrassing you,” Carmen said, flashing her a smile.

“Oh,” Diana smiled back and sat back up. “I… I just don’t like people staring at me.”

“Sowry,” Alden immediately began looking at the ceiling. “We'a not looking at you anymore wight guys.”

Carmen and Diana giggled.

“You can look at me silly,” Diana managed to say. “Just don’t stare at me.”

“But how can I look at you witout staiwing?” Alden now shifting focus between Diana and the ceiling, watching his eyeballs move so fast was making Carmen dizzy.

“You can look at her Alden, jussst not for too long,” Basil explained, his own eyes shifting between his friends and the paper.

Alden finally focused on Diana and smiled at her. Carmen and Diana giggled, which made Alden return focus to the light fixture he decided was very nice to look at. Then a book came whizzing right in front of Alden. Startling him and making him fall off his seat. It landed right in front of Nora. She was surrounded by the kids from yesterday. They all laughed as Alden managed to pick himself up.

“Did we let buwrds in the school?” Alden asked in a daze.

“Mrs. Abbott!” Carmen called out.

“Yes Carmen?” The teacher looked up from helping a student.

“Nora almost hit Alden with a book.”

Mrs. Abbott walked over to Nora and started talking with her. Carmen looked over at Alden, who was finally back together.

“You okay?” She asked him quietly.

“Yeah,” He smiled at her reassuringly. “It’ll take more than that to take down Alden Clark.”

Mrs. Abbott walked back over with Nora in tow, Nora was putting on her best sorry face, the same one she wore yesterday when she lied about calling Carmen names.

“Nora, is there something you’d like to tell Alden?” Mrs. Abbott asked.

“I’m sorry,” Nora said airily. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s oka-“

“Liar!” Carmen interrupted

“Carmen!” Mrs. Abbott exclaimed, shocked at the outburst. “Nora had apologized, and she said she wasn’t trying to scare Alden, just show her levitation spell to friends.”

“She’s lying!” Carmen stood her ground. “She lied yesterday about calling me names and she’s lying again!”

“How can you say that?” Nora said, bringing tears to her eyes and hiding in Mrs. Abbott’s dress. “I’m not a liar!”

“Yes you are!”

“That’s enough Carmen,” Mrs. Abbott’s voice took a stern tone. “We’re going to move on from this, I’m so sorry Alden. Nora, let’s be more careful of when we use magic next time okay?”

“O… Okay,” Nora said between sobs. She followed Mrs. Abbott back to her friends and joined them. After a few more seconds of crocodile tears she was back to smiling and laughing with her friends.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Alden brought Carmen’s attention to the group. Basil and Diana were putting away their drawing pads.

_Why don’t they believe me, I was telling the truth yesterday and today. Mama said if I’m honest grown-ups will believe me, so why won’t they?_

Alden looked concerned for Carmen, a small frown on his face.

“I didn’t get huwt, you didn’t need to go after hew for me.”

“But she was lying, she did mean to scare you,” Carmen said, angry that he wasn’t angry.

“But you got in twouble,” Alden went back to the light glyph, he finished drawing and put his finger on it. The paper wrinkled into a, even by Carmen’s, small ball of light. He held and pushed it over to her. “It’s not wowrt getting into twouble ovaw me.”

The ball of light bounced off Carman and flew onto the ceiling. A big smile spread over Carmen’s face. Alden also smiled, though he looked back at his pad when Carmen looked at him. The rest of the hour passed uneventfully. Five minutes before the bell rang, Mrs. Abbott walked up to the front of the class.

“Students,” she called out, the room quieting down. “I have a few announcements. First, on your way out, you’re going to grab the assignment sheet for this Friday’s show and tell. You’re going to bring in something that’s very important to you and tell us why it’s important to you. Also, we have permission slips for your first field trip, you just need one parent to sign it and bring it back by Friday. This year we’re taking a guided tour of the knee. I’m told they only have a 90% mortality rate so this will be the safest field trip of the year. There’s also room for parents to sign up to chaperone if they want. Please bring the sheet back by Friday in order to go on the trip- “

The bell interrupted Mrs. Abbott with it’s usual scream.

“Alrighty then, it’s time to go, goodbye students and don’t forget to grab a paper.”

Carmen and her friends got up and headed to the front of the room. As Carmen grabbed her papers, Mrs. Abbott bent over to talk to her.

“Carmen, is it okay if we talk to your mom before you two leave?”

Carmen nodded and walked with the teacher to the school’s exit. Outside, Luz was talking to Eda and King counting stuff on her fingers.

“Oh- we also found out that Carmen cannot eat or drink red dye. Please do not give her any or she’ll be up all night.”

“Don’t worry,” Eda said with a laugh. “How many times have King and I looked after the little lady before? We got this.”

“I know, but with Amity working late and me needing to catch up with paperwork and Edmund… I’m just- “

“Mama!” Carmen yelled as she ran over to hug Luz.

“Mija!” Luz dropped down and scooped up Carmen, softly stroking her hair. “Oh Mija, how was school today?”

“Good, I taught Alden and Diana and Basil how to make light!”

“Look at that,” Eda walked over and gave Carmen a kiss on her check. “Day two and already showing the other kids the bad girl coven style. Oh, you must be the teach, I’m Eda.”

Eda stuck out her hand but Mrs. Abbott simply glared.

“I know.”

“Oh hahah,” Eda looked nervous. Mrs. Abbott cleared her throat and looked at Luz.

“Can I please have a word with you Luz?”

“Of course,” Luz said as she put Carmen down. “Wait right here, mama’s going to be right back.”

Luz kissed Carmen and walked a little bit away with Mrs. Abbott.

“So!” King walked over and stood up straight, making sure that his horn was still taller than Carmen. “Already building an army of followers I see. That’s good, do you remember what I taught you?”

Carmen nodded and raised her hand to start listing off King’s patented requirements for a good army.

“1: Must be loyal, 2: must be dangerous, 3: must bring snacks, 4: must pay for rides, 5: must bring more snacks!” Carmen stood at attention in front of the minuscule demon. “Did I get that right SIR!”

“Perfect,” King wiped a tear from his eye. “My little soldier is already becoming a leader. Do you have any snacks?”

Carmen dug into her backpack and pulled out an apple. She handed it to him as Luz headed back, Mrs. Abbott was heading back into the building.

“Something wrong kiddo?” Eda asked as Luz stared at King and Carmen taking turns eating the apple.

“Hm?” Luz snapped her attention to Eda. “No, everything is fine, just something I need to talk with Carmen about later.”

“CAWMEN!” Alden shouted across from the entrance. Carmen handed King the apple so that she could stand up and wave. Alden hurried over, dragging a woman that could only be his mother with him.

“Cawmen tis is my mom I want you to come to my biwthday party on Sunday!” Alden said without pause.

“Alden slow down,” Adlen’s mom said. She was older than Luz. She had curly brown hair and glasses. Alden was the spitting image of her, from the eyes, ears and nose. “Sorry about that, Alden hasn’t had a lot of friends and he’s excited to get to invite one over.”

“Oh it’s no problem,” Luz waved it off cheerfully. “New friends are probably the best thing about starting school.”

“Well I’m Isla Clark, it’s nice to meet you-“ Isla looked at Luz, realizing just who she was talking to. “You’re Luz the Human! Oh my, I knew you taught here but I didn’t know you had a daughter!”

“OH!” Luz said surprised by the recognition. “Well, yeah, I’m Luz Blight-Noceda, it’s nice to meet you Isla.”

“The pleasure is all mine Luz,” Isla reached out her hand and Luz accepted the shake. “Well, anyway, yeah it’s Alden’s birthday on Sunday and I said if he made any friends he could invite them and he said yesterday that he wanted to invite Carmen but we didn’t see her outside yesterday so I thought we’d go ahead and invite her today so can she come?!”

Luz and Eda stared at Isla, who stood catching her breath.

“Um,” Luz said, not totally sure of everything Isla had said. “Yeah that’s fine.”

“Great wonderful here’s the invitation!” Isla reached into her cloak and pulled out a simple envelope with Carmen’s name on it. “The party starts at 2 and ends at 6, you’re welcome to come too. Of course it was a very nice meeting you, we need to go now Alden!”

Alden was playing a game of ‘obey the general’ with King and Carmen. He was not doing well based on the number of pushups he was doing.

“22…23… what comes aftaw 23?”

“Questioning your general, that’s another 50 from the top!” King barked.

“Yes genewal…. 1… 2…..”

Carmen laughed and waved to Luz.

“Well, it was great to meet you Isla, I have run back inside but we’ll see you Sunday.” Luz said, heading over to Carmen and hugging her before heading back inside the building.

Carmen, King and Alden walked over to Eda and Isla.

“Is mama working late?” Carmen asked, picking up her backpack.

“Yeah, mom too so it’ll be the three of us for a while,” Eda said as she watched Luz reenter the school.

“Okay, goodbye Alden,” Carmen waved to her friend who shyly waved back.

The three made their way into the woods. King taking the lead to practice marching drills with Carmen.

“1, 2, 3, 4! Sound-Off, Sgt. Carmen?”

“Present!” Carmen shouted.

“Private Eda?”

“Nope,” Eda said as she walked on ahead.

Carmen quickly caught up to her, pulling the edges of her dress.

“If you don’t sound-off we can’t keep marching because we’ll have to wait for you,” Carmen said in genuine concern of her aunt not sounding off.

“Okay,” Eda said, bending down and patting Carmen’s head. “I’d hate to hold up the mighty Sgt. Carmen from reaching her destination. Private Eda sounding of-”

A low rumble emerged from the woods behind them. Carmen looked up and saw a group of trees get moved. A deep thump sound was getting louder and closer to the three.

“Carmen, get behind me now,” Eda put one hand in front of Carmen, who hid behind her adoptive aunt. With her other hand Eda reached into her hair and pulled out a handful of cards. King scurried in front of Carmen, the tiny Demon ready to attack anything that so much as looked at Carmen funny.

The thumping sounds stopped at the edge of the woods in front of the small group. Carmen could still hear the rumbling, realizing after a moment it was actually breathing.

“Auntie Eda?” Carmen clutched onto Eda’s dress.

“Don’t worry kiddo,” The old witch reassured as she picked out one of her cards. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. At least not while I’m alive.”

Eda tapped the card and threw it near the sound. Where it landed, a wall of trees grew, blocking the path of whatever was in front of them. Eda grabbed Carmen’s hand and started running down the path, King close behind them. Carmen turned around as a massive bear-like creature burst through the trees. It sniffed the air, searching for their scents. Once it was locked on, it roared and charged at the three of them.

“EDA!” Carmen shouted, practically being dragged by Eda. Eda glanced behind her, her expression grimacing.

“That’s a Burrow Bear! They’re supposed to be nocturnal,” Eda picked out another card and threw it at the beast. More plants exploded out of the ground and tangled the bear’s feet, though this seemed like a temporary inconvenience as one lift of it’s paws freed itself.

“Burrow Bears are bad news Eda!’ King shouted as they continued running. “Once they have your smell they’ll keep chasing you. We could fly away, but we’d need to go pretty far away, like the other side of the island far.”

“Pretty far huh?” Eda picked up Carmen and reached back into her hair. She pulled out a skeleton key and a briefcase, both had a big eye on them. She pushed the eye on the key and the briefcase flew ahead of them, unfolding to create a door that opened with bright light.

“Hold on!” Eda called as she, Carmen and King ran through the door. They emerged on the other side in an old abandoned cabin. Eda turned around and hit the key again. The door shut right before the bear could pass though, folding back into a briefcase.

“Phew,” Eda sighed as she put Carmen down. “I’m getting older than I thought, I used to be able to take those things down with no problem.”

The three walked out of the cabin. Carmen recognized the woods and the light blue sky above them. Eda grabbed Carmen’s hand and they started walking.

“Man, it’s been forever since I’ve been on this side,” Eda said as they walked towards a house just outside the forest. “Hopefully Camila’s home, otherwise I have no clue what we’re going to do. Oh yeah, how long will it take for the bear to leave?”

“Hard to say,” King’s usual humorous tone was dead serious. “Usually Burrow Bears hunt at night, must be really hungry to risk attacking a witch. It may wait around until it smells something else or until we reappear. I’d say we wait a few hours for sure.”

“Look!” Carmen shouted as they reached the house. A middle aged woman was taking out a garbage bin to the curb of her driveway. She turned around as she heard Carmen’s voice.

“Nieta? Is that you?” Camilla Noceda asked as Carmen ran up to her.

“HI ABUELLA!,” Carmen ran into Camilla, reaching around as far as she could to hug her grandmother. “We got attacked by a bear!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter another chance to thank everyone so much for the positive reception. I'm honestly and truly happy you're all enjoying this so much. I'll get another chapter out Sunday.


	7. Won't be so Quiet Today

“So, now bears are attacking my grandchildren?” Camilla asked Eda as she poured the witch a mug of coffee.

“I mean, not both your grandchildren,” Eda said, trying to downplay the accident. Camilla shot her a look of unamusement. “Look, the Isles aren’t always the safest place but I know what I’m doing.”

“But what about the kids?” Camille asked as she peaked into the living room to see Carmen. “That monster lives right next to their home and that’s, what, normal?”

“I’m sure Luz had no idea that bear was there,” Eda took a sip of the coffee, making a face at it’s bitterness. “Now that she does all they need to is to call Beast Control and they’ll get rid of the thing no problem.”

Camilla sighed and opened the refrigerator, pulling ingredients out. Ever since Luz had moved to the Isles permanently the house was different. Making meals wasn't half as fun when no one else could appreciate it. 

_At least the house won’t be so quiet_ _today_ , Camilla thought as she laid out the ingredients for Albóndigas de Res. _Besides, sharing food with Carmen is always a treat_. 

“Will Luz and Amity be joining us?” Camilla asked as she started combining ground beef with spices in a bowl.

“Probably not,” Eda said, staring into her mug. “We weren’t able to give warning with how suddenly everything happened. Knowing Luz she’ll be in full panic worrying about Carmen.”

“Better play it safe and make more then,” Camilla threw in a little more meat and seasoning. “You can bring leftovers with you if they don’t come. You know this was one of Luz’s favorites when she was Carmen’s age?”

“No, she always talked about your cooking though.”

“Of course she did,” Camilla started mixing together the bowl’s contents. “ No crié a una idiota, my daughter knows good cooking. What about you?”

“Me,” Eda laughed before taking another sip of coffee. “I threw what I had in a pot and hoped it would taste good!”

“Well, care to learn a Noceda family recipe?”

Eda looked surprised.

“I shouldn’t, I’m not really-”

“Ahh, la familia es familia. Carmen and Edmund call you auntie, you took in Luz when she was stuck on the Boiling Isles. You’re part of the Noceda family, alright! That means you get to eat like us. Go wash your hands and get over here.”

Eda put down her mug and started washing. Camilla grabbed a clump of meat and rolled it into a ball.

“This was one of the few dishes my mama wrote down for me before I came to America. It’s special in that way, this little part of home I can share with Luz.”

“Camilla I… I don’t know what to say,” Eda said as she dried her hands and walked over. “Thank you, for everything Camilla.”

“You’re welcome” Camilla pointed to the vegetables. “Dice the onion and the peppers, then chop the tomato and the garlic.”

“There’s a difference between dicing and chopping?”

“Huge,” Camilla looked through her cupboards. “Dicing is two ways chopping is one. We need the tomatoes thick otherwise they’ll dissolve in the sauce.”

“If you say so,” Eda began cutting into vegetables faster than Camilla could keep track of. 

“Where did you learn to do that?” Camilla asked in amazement.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” 

The kitchen filled with the smells of tomato, garlic, and peppers. The sauce was simmering as the meatballs cooked in it. A pot of rice was also on the stove, waiting to be served.

 _Ahh,_ Camilla took a deep breath, _It smells like a home here again._

“Abuela, is supper almost done?” Carmen poked her head in. “I think King needs to eat or he’ll die.”

Camilla looked out into the living room, the poor demon was lying on the floor completely out of breath.

“I’m… fine… just… danced… out” King wheezed out as Carmen back over to check on him.

“You need medical attention! Abuela, is my medicine bag still here?”

“It’s upstairs I think,” Camilla called and the girl bolted upstairs. “But supper’s going to be done soon so don’t play too long.”

“I won’t,” came a distant response from somewhere above Camilla.

“They grow up so fast,” Camilla said, grabbing some bowls down. “You blink and that little baby in the hospital is in first-grade.”

“Edmund too,” Eda lifted up the lid to pot to give the soup a stir. “I swear that kid is going to give Luz a heart attack.”

“Things are still rough between them?”

“They certainly aren’t better, she told me they're going to try counseling this weekend.”

Camilla walked over to the counter with four bowls in hand, setting them carefully on the counter.

“I’d have no idea how to handle Edmund. Luz certainly wasn’t easy but she never tried to get in trouble,” Camilla handed Eda a bowl. “Put the rice in first, then the soup.”

“Amity’s also struggling,” Eda said, being careful not to mess up her first time making a meal with Camilla. “She was hoping Edmund would come around on his own but yesterday proved that probably wouldn’t happen.”

“Yesterday? What happened yesterday?”

“I…” Eda gave Camilla an uncertain look. “Luz should be the one to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Camilla started getting worried. “Did Edmund hurt someone again?”

“I fixed King!” Carmen came into the kitchen supporting the exhausted demon. His face and arms were covered in bandages.

“Hey guys,” Kings said embarrassed. “So… we eating?”

“Yeah,” Eda said, filling up the last two bowls before Camilla could talk to her. She brought them over to the table and pulled out a chair for Carmen. The little girl helped King get on instead.

“You need medicine,” Carmen told her demonic patient. “Abuela’s soup will cure everything.”

“Great,” King said, somehow still out of breath. “I love soup.”

The demon reached for his bowl and pulled it over to himself. Before he could take a bite Carmen tapped him on the shoulder.

“We need to wait till everyone can eat and we say grace,” Carmen whispered. “That’s the rule when we’re at Abuela’s.”

“I think tonight,” Camilla said, looking between Eda and King as she brought the other two bowls over. “You can pray quietly.”

“You know I’m not that kind of a demon right?” King asked indignantly. “But I accept the offer to eat sooner.”

The little demon dug into the soup. Carmen carefully took out a spoonful and blew on it. Eda and Camilla also started in too. Minutes passed, only the sound of spoons scraping bowls and swallowing could be heard.

_This is the highest compliment a chef can have, a silent beginning to a meal._

“Wow!” King said after devouring his bowl. “This is amazing!”

“Gracias,” Camila said. “I’m glad you like it, Eda helped make it.”

“Wait, Eda made something other than hot vegetable water?

“Gee thanks,” Eda polished off her bowl too. “But really Camilla this is great, I really appreciate you sharing this with me. We don’t have a lot of traditional meals at the Isles.”

“If you wanted to I could show you some of the other dishes I know.”

“Oh, I’d hate to impose-”

“Nonsense,” Camilla put down her spoon. “Like I said, familia es familia, it would be nice to have company over more often.”

“Can I come too?” Carmen asked, a good amount of the soup on her face. 

“Of course Nieta,” Camilla reached over with a napkin and wiped off Carmen’s mouth. “You, mama, mommy and Edmund can come over whenever you want.”

A series of quick knocks on the door drew everyone’s attention. It was soon followed by another series of knocks. Camilla got up and headed over to the door. Opening it up she was greeted by her daughter. Luz’s eyes were red and she was hyperventilating.

“Mom… Carmen… Eda… King… they’re-”

“MAMA!” Carmen left the table and ran to Luz.

“MIJA!” Luz ran inside and scooped up Carmen. “Me dejaste medio muerto!”

Luz held Carmen and started crying. Camilla walked over to the two and wrapped her arms around Luz.

“Sh Mija,” Camilla said, trying to calm her daughter. “Todo está bien Mija.”

The three stood in the middle of the living together. Eda and King waited at the doorway to the kitchen. When Luz finally stopped crying she looked at Eda.

“What happened?”

“I’m so sorry kiddo,” Eda walked over. “We were attacked by a burrow bear. I had to get Carmen to safety and the Human world was the only place we could go.”

“I… I don’t know…” Luz started, but she started teetering in place, as the adrenaline left her system.

“Easy mija.” Camilla said as she guided Luz to the couch. “Carmen’s okay, take a moment and breath.”

“We looked everywhere for you guys,” Luz said, eyes closed as she held onto Carmen. “The Owl house, the market, the conformatorium, anywhere you might have ended up. I didn’t even know you were here, I just wanted to talk to mi mama.”

“Luz, I am SO sorry,” Eda sat next to Luz, patting her on the shoulder. “I should’ve done better, saved you the heartache.”

“Eda, you saved my daughter’s life!” Luz smiled and looked at Eda through tears. “There is nothing to apologize for.”

“Have you eaten anything Luz?” Camilla asked, Luz shook her head. “You need your strength Mija, let’s go to the kitchen, we made albondigas de res.”

“That sounds great,” Luz said, standing up while still carrying Carmen. “Gracias mamá… OH! Amity and Edmund need to know!”

Luz grabbed her staff and took off her otter palisman. It sprang to life, eagerly awaiting instructions.

“Hector, I need you to bring Amity and Edmund here pronto. I found Carmen and she’s okay,” 

The otter gave a salute before diving to the floor and running out the door.

“Luz, when did you become so good with just using one hand?” King asked as Luz entered the kitchen.

“Parenting,” Camilla answered as she got a bowl out for Luz. “Becoming a parent gives you strengths you never knew you had.”

“Well I had a great role model,” Luz sat down and let out a deep breath. “Sorry I haven’t visited sooner mama.”

“It’s okay,” Camilla bent down and kissed Luz’s forehead. I’m just happy to see you.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading. I just wanted to give a couple quick notes for this chapter in particular. I actually learned a lot about Dominican cooking when writing this chapter (may or not have more of it in a chapter down the line). Food is something that's really important to my family and myself, it's a chance for us to share and show each other our love without needing to say anything. I wanted this chapter to reflect that for Camila and Eda. We know a lot about Eda but not so much Camila, so I've had a lot of free rein with her character. I think she really wishes that Luz had returned to the human realm but understands why she stayed in the Boiling Isles, especially after meeting Amity. That doesn't mean she agrees with Luz on everything but she also understands what it's like to want to find a better life for yourself. Whenever Luz and her family visit it's a special occasion and she savors every second of it. In a lot of ways she's just my grandma (love you Mamaw), and would rather spend her time with Luz and family making sure everyone is happy rather then confronting them. It should also be stated I am not a Spanish speaker and am heavily relying on Google Translate. I'm double checking everything to make sure it's right but there might still be mistakes and for those I apologize. All this to say, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. We will see more of Camila. Next chapter is out Wednesday, but first I gotta finish a ton of midterms. Hope you have a great day and I'll see you next time.


	8. Markets and Parks

Losing a child was every parent’s worst nightmare and Amity was living it. The witch ran up and down the market, checking every alley and stall, anywhere Eda might have taken Carmen. So far the only things Amity had found were secondhand human stores and a shocking amount of unauthorized human merchandise.

 _Think Amity, think!_ Amity’s mind went a million different places as she raced down another alleyway hoping to find anything that could point her to Eda. 

_Eda’s taken Carmen out before while babysitting, but she always left a note. No note so what does that tell you? Were they kidnapped? No signs of a struggle, Eda wouldn’t have gone without a fight. Luz said she would check back at the school and see if maybe they went to the playground there. Willow volunteered to check the Conformatorium, and we can pull some strings if they’re there._

Amity turned a corner to find a dead end with no one there. She turned around, ignoring the pain in her lungs and her racing heart as she sprinted back to the main marketplace. The crowds weren’t as thick as they could have been but it still wasn’t easy to see through them all. She started making her way back to the market’s entrance. She was in such a rush she didn’t notice the otter grab her leg until it gave her a little nip.

“Ow, what the.” Amity looked at the palisman clinging to her for dear life. “Hector? Where’s Luz? Did she find Carmen?”

The otter nodded excitedly and pointed back towards the house.

“Okay, we need to get Edmund first. Oh… Willow too!”

Amity pulled out her staff and picked up Hector, putting him on her shoulder. Kicking into the air, they headed towards the Conformatorium. Willow was just walking out, disappointment written on her face. She was holding hands with a witch wearing purple robes.

“Willow!” Amity called as she landed in front of the two.

“Amity,” Willow ran up and hugged Amity. “We asked but no one’s been brought in today.”

“It’s okay,” Amity said, letting go of her friend. “Luz found them.”

“Oh thank goodness,” Willow let out a deep breath as the yellow witch with the clam-like head moved so he was next to Willow.

“I’m glad to hear,” he said as he gave Amity a smile. “We have to grab Maple, she said she would help Edmund check the parks.

“Wait, she wanted to help Edmund?” Amity said in disbelief.

“Yeah, she said they had talked today and that she wanted to help him.”

“She… talked… to him?” Amity took some steps back, trying to understand all the words Willow’s husband had told her. Willow and Phineas looked at each other confused.

“Does Edmund not talk to people?” Willow asked.

“No,” Amity started to smile. “This is great, if he’s trying to make a friend maybe he’s actually changing!”

“That’s great!” Phineas looked at Willow beaming. “You know I’ve been worried that Maple was being too introverted to try and make friends but now she’s making friends with our friend's son.”

“Phineas calm down,” Willow said, blushing at her husband’s excitement. “Let’s go get them and let them know Carmen’s been found.”

“Right,” Amity looked at Hector. “Lead the way.”

Hector leaped onto the ground and smelled around, before trotting off. The three witches followed the palisman through Bonesborough, Amity and Willow catching up with Phineas occasionally butting in to praise Willow. The sun was starting to set but Hector seemed to have trouble keeping up with the scent.

“Boy, they must have looked everywhere,” Phineas said, trying to conceal his heavier breathing.

“Edmund would do anything for Carmen,” Amity said, getting worried by the lateness of the hour. “If there’s a spot he thinks they might have gone he’ll search the whole block before he moves on.”

Hector stopped suddenly, standing up as high as he could to breathe in. Then he ran down the street, turning sharply at the entrance to an older playground. The adults followed at their own pace. Amity was the first one to be greeted by a surprising sight for her. Edmund and Maple were sitting on top of the equipment, Maple’s mouth running a mile a minute while Edmund sat there listening, focusing on casting some kind of spell circle.

 _Oh my… he’s actually letting someone in!_ Amity could barely contain her happiness. 

“Maple!” Willow called out as she and Phineas entered the park. Maple turned around almost slid off, but Edmund grabbed her arm without looking and steadied her.

“Hi mom!... Hi Phineas,” Maple said as she started making her way down the playground gracelessly. Edmund turned around, seeing Amity’s smile was all he needed to know the good news. He stood up and jumped off, landing into a roll that carried him over to Amity.

“Where is she? Is she okay?” Edmund asked as Maple made it to the ground and dashed over.

“She’s fine, Hector knows where they are,” Amity picked up the otter again, who nuzzled her shoulder. Edmund sighed in relief, Maple smiled.

“That’s great,” Edmund said. “Let’s get going.”

Edmund started off, but Maple grabbed his hand to stop him.

“Wait,” the young witch started. “That’s it?”

“I mean, yeah,” Edmund looked confused. “I gotta make sure Carmen’s okay.”

“Oh, well that’s fine.” Maple walked over to Willow. Amity looked at Edmund, his emotions were hard to read. He turned around and looked at Maple.

“Look Maple,” Edmund said half-heartedly. “We’ll… talk tomorrow like we planned okay? I just-”

“No, it’s okay, go see you sister,” Maple put on a forced smile. Willow walked over and held her hand. Amity walked over to the two.

“I’m so sorry about Edmund,” Amity said hugging the two. “Thank you both so much for your help.”

“Of course,” Willow said. “Now go, before it gets too dark.”

Amity smiled and headed off after Edmund, who was just waiting outside the park.

“Edmund, what was that about with Maple?” Amity asked, Edmund shrugged. “You were talking and she seemed really happy, then you just ignored her?”

“Mom it’s not like she’s my friend or anything,” Edmund said, trying to play distant. “She just started talking to me today and I let her. I honestly have nothing in common with her, I just didn’t have the heart to say no to her.”

“Well I think she’s sweet,” Amity said, finally getting a good look at Edmund and seeing the bruise on his face. “What’s that?”

Edmund turned away from Amity. “Nothing.”

“Oh that’s not nothing!” Amit reached out and touched Edmund’s face. “Did you start another fight today?”

“No,” Edmund pulled Amity’s hand off of him. “I fell, okay?”

“Edmu-“

“We should check on Carmen.”

Amity sighed, silently agreeing that seeing Carmen was what they both needed at the moment. Amity summoned her staff and she and Edmund got on it.

“Okay Hector, where too?” Amity asked, the palisman straightened out pointed back towards their home. Amity kicked off and the two went flying.

 _Hector is pointing straight home,_ Amity realized as they soared over the town, _maybe they’re already there._

Once they landed, Amity could see why Hector brought them back. In their yard was a door to the human world. Hector leaped off the staff and ran through the door. Edmund walked in front Amity and headed towards the door.

“Edmund wait,” Amity said, taking a breath and steeling her nerves. “Last night, when mamá said you were going to go to counseling we hadn’t finished talking about it. I want to know, right now, between you and me: if we don’t make you do this will you try and stop acting out?”

Edmund stopped in front of the door.

“Because if you really try to change we won’t make you go to counseling or anything. We just want what’s best for you and- “

“Mom,” Edmund was looking straight ahead at the door. “I… I think I need this.”

“Okay,” Amity reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the pamphlets. “I already made an appointment today for you on Thursday after school. Either mamá or I can go with- “

“You,” Edmund said without hesitation. “I want it to be you.”

Amity walked over and handed him the pamphlet. On the cover there was a serious looking witch, her hand on her chin looking at the reader, already analyzing them.

“She specializes in teenagers,” Amity explained as Edmund opened it. “The first session isn’t going to be going deep, just getting an idea of where we’re at. We’ll see what she says from there.”

“Alright,” Edmund folded the pamphlet and headed into the door. 

_This is good,_ Amity thought heading into the human realm herself, _he’s at least letting us try this. No fighting or anything._

Amity found herself in the abandoned cabin. Edmund was already a bit ahead of her, following Hector. Amity already knew where they were going and picked up the pace to catch up. The short walk through the woods brought them to Camilla’s house. Edmund wasted no time knocking on the door. It took a second for Eda to open it.

“Hey-” Eda started but Edmund just moved past her into the house. Amity could faintly hear him calling out to Carmen, her daughter’s familiar voice responding loud and clear. Amity felt a weight lift off her when she heard it. Amity walked up and gave Eda a hug.

“Thank you Eda,” Amity said to the old witch.

“Hey now,” Eda returned the gesture. “It’s the least I could do. We’ll tell you what happened but get in there and see your kid.”

Amity let go and nodded, heading into the house. There, Edmund was kneeling and listening as Carmen talked. Luz and Camila were sitting on the couch with King, holding open what Amity recognized as an old photo album. 

_Any chance she has, Camila will whip that thing out, it’s hard not to when Luz was so cute at their age._

Amity headed over to Carmen first.

“-then Eda opened the door and picked me up. She was all like: Fwoosh! And leapt in the door and it was so cool!”

“Sounds like someone had quite the adventure.” Amity said as she got on the floor and hugged her daughter. “You sure gave us a scare.”

“I’m sorry,” Carmen hugged her mom back as hard as she could. “I’m okay though, so please don’t cry.”

“I’ll try,” Amity said knowing tears were already forming at the corner of her eyes.. Luz got off the couch and picked up Hector, putting him back on her staff. She looked at Amity and gestured for her to follow her into the kitchen. Amity let go of Carmen, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back, mamá just needs to talk to me.”

Amity stood up and followed Luz, quickly stopping to hug Camila.

“Hola mamá,” Amity smiled as Camila hugged her back.

“Hola mi nuera.”

Amity barely stepped into the kitchen when Luz grabbed her arm and pulled the two close together. Luz planted a kiss on Amity’s lips, much to her surprise and delight. Amity closed her eyes and reciprocated, stopping after a second and looking into Luz’s eyes.

“What was that for?” Amity asked, feeling better than she had in awhile.

“I just love you,” Luz said, cupping Amity’s face with her hands. “Isn’t that reason enough?”

“Always,” Amity kissed Luz again, which lasted until they were interrupted by Amity’s stomach growling.

“Guess I should probably eat, huh?”

“Yeah,” Luz chuckled. “They made albondigas de res for supper, there’s plenty left for you and Edmund.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I’ll take it.”

Luz opened the fridge and pulled out a plastic container. She put about half its contents into a bowl and then into the microwave. Amity walked behind Luz and put her arms around her.

“I missed you today,” Amity said, kissing Luz on the cheek.

“I missed you too,” Luz smiled before remembering something. “Amity, there’s something we need to quickly talk about with Carmen.”

“Oh?” Amity let go of Luz, who turned around.

“It’s probably nothing,” Luz started, her happy expression faltering. “But today she and Nora had another fight, not physical, thankfully, but still. Mrs. Abbott said she’ll keep a closer eye on both but we should talk to Carmen soon.”

“Yeah,” Amity said looking towards the door to the living room. “We were going to have to talk to her about this anyway. I’ve scheduled an appointment for Edmund to see a counselor on Thursday. Oh, and he was talking to Maple today!”

“Maple? Willow’s Maple?” Luz brightened.

“Yeah,” Amity held Luz’s hands. “Well, she was talking to him and he let her but that’s a better start than we had.”

“Well considering you tried to dissect me after our first meeting, it’s a little hard to top.”

“Please,” Amity smirked and moved closer to Luz, looking into her wife’s eyes. “Like I need a dissection to know how you work anymore.”

“Yo,” Edmund said from the doorway, looking like he wished he were anywhere else at the moment. Amity and Luz let go of each other and held back laughter. “Abuela said there were leftovers and I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“Yeah,” Luz said, pulling out Amity’s food from the microwave. “It’s in the fridge, just heat it up for-”

“I know,” Edmund said, opening the fridge and grabbing the container. Luz looked hurt, Amity had seen that face a lot recently. She reached out and grabbed the bowl from Luz.

“You know,” Amity said, putting on her ‘I know what will cheer you up’ voice. “I haven’t looked through the photo album in a while.”

“Oh really?” The smile returning to Luz’s face. “Are you saying that to cheer me up, or you?”

“Does it really matter?” Amity cocked her head, offering Luz her arm.

“You know it doesn’t,” Luz wrapped her arm around Amity’s.

“Oh my gosh please just go!” Edmund exclaimed, standing in front of the microwave, his face bright red. “I love you guys but seriously you NEED a room!”

Amity and Luz laughed as they left the kitchen. They spent a little while still with Camila, but they still needed to get Carmen home. Plus one of them would have to fly Eda home and back. By the time Amity was finally able to get to bed it was really late. Luz was already sound asleep when Amity snuggled in next to her, smiling as she fell asleep.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween weekend everyone! I'm sure a lot of you guys are as excited as I am that The Owl House will be on Disney+ starting Friday. In between your 1st or 2nd binge of the series PLEASE check out the awesome Lexa_Alycia. She's agreed to help edit this and has proven to be amazing at it. Her fanfic Zero is a brilliant Owl House/Infinity Train crossover that was reason I reached to her for help. It's more than just The Owl House in infinity Train, she's really doing some cool stuff with character arcs and creating a compelling narrative. Please please please check it if you liked reading this because she made it infinitely more readable. That's really all for now, midterms went great so I can refocus on this for a week before I have to start worrying about finals. I'll be back on Sunday with another chapter.
> 
> Link for Zero: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26687968/chapters/65096422


	9. Worth Fighting For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey peeps, I'm so sorry I'm getting this up later than intended. This weekend was super busy for me and I just forgot to publish. To make it up you guys, I'm posting three chapters today and two on Sunday. At this point in writing I'm nearing the endgame for this first part of The Owl Family. I'll be taking a break before I start working on the next part. Rest assured: it'll be a short break. As always thanks to my beta reader: Lexa_Alycia, just the best editor I could ask for and incredibly talented. Please check her work Zero out, it's awesome and she's got some cool stuff cooking for that. I don't have a whole lot to preface these chapters with. So for now, enjoy and I'll be back Sunday.

The week had moved along in relative quietness for Maple after Tuesday. The start of her eighth-grade promised to be wholly uninteresting, just like 7th grade and 6th grade before. Classes were fine, dull at times like any school but Maple didn’t mind doing the work. No, what made Maple uninterested were her peers.

They weren’t mean, but Maple just never found any connections with them. She had known most of them since the first-grade but as they all got older, it became more apparent that Maple’s die hard love of Beast Keeping wasn’t that interesting to them. The boys in her class weren’t much better, even the ones that were going to go into Beast Keeping didn’t have the patience to listen to Maple. When the year started Maple half expected that she’d just spend most of her time in the barn, reading books and getting excited for when she could study magical beasts full time. Then she had met, or rather re-met, Edmund.

“It’s so cool,” Maple told Edmund as the boy cleaned up a hall floor during lunch. He wasn’t in trouble (at least for today) but had to serve his detention early for reasons he wouldn’t share. Not that Edmund had shared anything the last three times Maple had spent time with him. “Like, sure a kelpie would try to kill you first, but the moment you have one briddled it’s yours! Imagine getting teams of carriages pulled by keplies to help witches without staffs get to other parts of the isles!”

“Yep,” Edmund said, focusing on mopping up a spill he really hoped was apple blood and not the other kind. “So cool.”

“Hey,” Maple moved in front of Edmund. “I know you only said you’d hang out with me because I threatened to tell your mom but you could at least try to be friendly.”

“It’s not that simple,” Edmund stopped mopping and looked at Maple. “I don’t know if you noticed but I’m not exactly Mr. Popular. You’re the first person in fou...fi... in a few years that actually wanted to be around me.”

“So?” Maple asked, really not sure what Edmund meant. “You could talk or say more than ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘maybe’ after I say something.”

“I do, I just said so cool.”

“That doesn’t count,” Maple folded her arms. “Why don’t you want to hang out with me?”

“Is the fact you’re blackmailing me not reason enough?”

“You didn’t want to before I blackmailed you, why? You said it yourself: I’m the first person to try being your friend in years so why don’t you want friends.”

Edmund looked past Maple and his eyes got wide. “Maple you need to go!”

“No, Edmund, you need to tell me what your problem is!”

“No Maple, you need-”

“HEY!”

Maple turned around, in front of her and Edmund was a group of 5 students. They all looked to be older than Maple and Edmund. One of them, a boy, stepped forward.

“I thought I told you what would happen if I saw you again Edmund!”

“Yeah,” Edmund moved in front of Maple. “I remember, I hope you remember what happened last time I did though.”

“Oh I remember,” The boy cracked his knuckles, his friends followed suit. “This time I’m not alone though.”

“I’ll make this easy,” Edmund said, confidence radiating from his voice. “You guys turn around and that’ll be the end of this. No one would like to know you got your butts handed to you 5 to one ”

“The way I see,” The boy started walking towards Edmund. “It’s five to two!”

Maple was about to ask Edmund who the second one was, before he put his arm in front of her.

“She was asking for directions, she’s not part of this.”

“Oh I think she is,” one of the other kids said. “I saw you two walking through town together on Tuesday!”

“Yeah,” another chimed in. “and yesterday she was talking to you in the barn!”

The rest of the crew started moving towards them. Maple felt fear grip her. Edmund had tensed up, the hand that was guarding Maple went into his pocket.

“You guys really don’t want to do this.” Edmund said, Maple heard nervousness in his voice, it sounded so out of place. Not even when they were looking for Carmen did he sound nervous.

_ Why would he be nervous? The most he’s ever said to me is that he doesn’t have friends. Unless... this is why he doesn’t have friends. _

“Oh, we’re doing this,” the apparent ringleader said, turning to some of his friends. “Make sure the girl doesn’t go anywhere.” 

With that Edmund’s hand flew out of his pocket, holding a piece of paper. He slammed it onto the ground and fire shot up from the ground in front of him and Maple. Then Edmund turned around and grabbed Maple’s hand. Dragging her as he ran down the hall. 

“Get them!”She heard the ringleader shout as they ran. She turned around, watching as he drew a circle in the air, water coming out of it and putting out the fire. The group started running after them, Maple felt Edmund pull on her arm.

“Come on!” Edmund said as he turned down a different hall. Maple didn’t know the highschool wing, all she could do was trust Edmund. He reached a door and tried opening it.

“No no no no!” He said, pounding on the door. The sounds of the pursuers getting closer. “The one time I try to get her to stop a fight and she’s not in!”

“Wh-” Maple started but Edmund started off again. He put down another piece of paper, this time vines sprouted out behind them, blocking the hall. Edmund was reading the room numbers as they ran.

“323, 325, 327- here!” Edmund slid to a stop, scratching a locker and getting it to open its mouth as wide as it could.. “Get in!”

“Wait, what?” Maple stared at him in disbelief, pulling her arm away from him. “I can’t fit in there!”

“You will,” Edmund looked at Maple with a reassuring smile. “Please just trust me.”

Maple looked at the inside of the locker, with it’s gooey opening that could probably fit her but barely, and then too Edmund, who was looking at her with genuine concern, his hand outstretched.

“Okay,” Maple took Edmund’s hand and stood in front of the locker. She nervously put one foot in. Edmund helped her get her other foot in. The sounds of the group chasing them started getting louder. Then, with a gurgle, the locker swallowed Maple. She closed her eyes as she passed through its slimy throat before emerging in a room with dozens of doors on every wall. She looked down at herself, covered with slime from her journey here. A portrait of a young witch with orange hair hung on a wall. A few seconds later Edmund came out from the same spot she did, which she could now see was the back of the locker.

“Sorry for the mess, this was just the closest entrance I knew of.” Edmund said, wiping gunk off his forehead.

“It’s… okay,” Maple said, arms outstretched as globs of slime fell off of them. “Where exactly are we.”

“The room of shortcuts,” Edmund walked over to the portrait of the witch. “Aunt Eda found it back when she went here, then mamá used it every now and again, now I’m carrying on the family legacy of being its caretaker.”

“But where is it?” Maple opened a door, on the other side was the grudgby equipment room. 

“I dunno,” Edmund said, opening up doors along a staircase. “It’s magically linked to most everywhere in the school. You just have to know how to open it. Jackpot!”

Maple looked up and saw Edmund step into a doorway. He came out a few seconds later with some cleaning towels.

“Knew there had to be an exit to a broom closet somewhere, here.”

He tossed Maple a towel as he started wiping himself off more thoroughly. Maple followed suit, but could already tell she’d need an after school shower.

“So those guys,” Maple said as she wiped the grime off her face. “Did you fight them before?”

“Yeah,” Edmund’s face turned into a frown. “Last year I turned the potions room into an inescapable sauna for about 20 minutes. They all came after me separately, must have met up and started a ‘let’s get Edmund club’ or been at the right place at the right time.”

“It’s a good thing we got out of there, you probably would’ve gotten hurt.”

Maple finished toweling off her face and looked at Edmund. The warm face he had before was gone, replaced with his usual sulky one.

“You shouldn’t talk to me anymore,” Edmund said, staring at the portrait of Eda. “Go ahead and tell my mom about the fight I had.”

“Wait,” Maple walked over to Edmund. “I don’t want to stop hanging out with you. I never really meant to tell your mom-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Edmund stood up and walked over to a door, opening it a crack and looking through it. “This door puts you on the middle school floor. Don’t go looking for me again, okay?”

Edmund went towards another door and went through it without a second thought. Maple stood there for a moment. She went over to the middle school door and reached for the handle.

_ This is fine,  _ she thought to herself,  _ he never really wanted me around anyway. I was just annoying him. I’ll just go back to classes and then tomorrow I’ll go back to the barn during lunch and it’ll be like nothing changed.  _

She paused for a moment. Then Maple turned around and walked over to the door Edmund went through.

_ You know what? NO! He can’t just do that after I helped him look for Carmen all evening. He’s got another thing coming if he thinks he can get rid of Maple Park that easy! _

Maple opened the door just in time to see Edmund get blasted across the hall by a plant.

“How’d that feel?” The boy from earlier said. It seemed as though Edmund had chosen the wrong door to leave, because the entire gang had him surrounded and were able to catch him off guard. Edmund stood up and started making a circle only for one of the other kids to send illusion clones at him. They managed to grab his arms as another kid summoned an abomination. It charged Edmund and headbutted him, making him double over, struggling to catch his breath. 

“So much for mister tough guy huh?” The ringleader drew a circle. “How about we get rid of another tooth huh?”

“STOP!” Maple cried out as she ran from the doorway. She stood in front of Edmund, who was still gasping for air.

“Oh ho ho! Look, his girlfriend’s gonna save him!” The gang laughed and got closer to the two.

“G- get out of here!” Edmund gasped out as he struggled to stand.

“No way!” Maple glanced at him. “You don’t get to decide if I get to hang out with you or not. That’s my call!”

Maple looked around, there was nothing she could do to stop them all. Her magic wasn’t that strong and there was no way her best Beast Keeping spells would work from this far away. She backed up a little closer to Edmund.

“So is there anything we can do to not die right now?” She whispered, bending over and helping him stand up.

“I mean,” Edmund tried to draw a circle but his hand was too shaky to pull it off. “Not unless my string of bad luck ends right- ”

“What’s going on here?!”

Everyone turned and looked at Principal Bump, who had just walked into the hall. All the gang members scattered, Edmund tried to but he was in no shape to do so. Bump walked over, eyeing Edmund.

“Starting fights again?” The principle asked.

“No… no sir,” Edmund said through gritted teeth.

“He wasn’t Principal Bump,” Maple said, making the principal raise his eyes. “He was protecting me, they were chasing me but Edmund stood up for me so they attacked him.”

“Really?” Bump said sarcastically. “Edmund looking out for others, I find it hard to believe, how much are you paying her to pretend to be your friend?”

“He’s not-”

“5 snails,” Edmund muttered out. “I was trying to get out of counseling so I paid her 5 snails a day to hang out with me. It didn’t work but I still paid her so I figured I might as well get my money’s worth. They attacked me and would have hurt her too if you hadn’t showed up.”

“There,” Bump smiled. “Was that so hard? You can go to the nurse's office now. We’ll just add another lunch break of cleaning to make up for today.”

Edmund nodded and tried to walk, but stumbled, Maple had to catch him and prop him up on her shoulder. Bump waved a finger and made the vegetation and other debris clear out instantly. Maple and Edmund walked in silence for a while, Maple wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. She felt so confused by Edmund, how could he just lie about her like she meant nothing to him.

“Sorry,” Edmund said, finally being able to speak without gasping. 

“It’s okay,” Maple looked straight ahead.

“No, it’s not, I’ve been treating you terribly and you don’t deserve it. The truth is…”

“Yeah?” Maple looked at Edmund, this time he seemed confused, struggling with what to say.

“The truth is I, I do want you as a friend,” Edmund said, Maple’s eyes widened. “What I said in the room of shortcuts, I was scared when I said that. I’m not used to having someone that isn’t family who wants to be around me. I was scared that when trouble found me you’d get hurt. So I tried to get rid of you, but then you had to do something cool!”

“What did I ever do that was cool?”

Edmund smiled, that same smile he had in front of the locker. “You stood up for me, against those jerks, and even better- against Bump.”

“Why lie to Bump?” Maple asked, the nurse’s office finally in sight.

“He’d never believe someone liked me enough to fight for me,” Edmund said with a laugh. “There’s something else you should know, I wasn’t lying about counseling. I’m starting that tonight. I’ve been… I’ve been having trouble for a long time. I don’t want that anymore, so it’ll be nice to have someone I can talk to about it. Tomorrow during lunch, do you want to continue the conversation?”

They stopped in front of the nurse’s office. Maple stared at Edmund, the beaten up boy opening the door.

“Uhhh yeah, tomorrow during lunch… sounds cool.”

“Awesome, you should go back to class,” Edmund said as he entered the room. “Oh, and thanks Maple.”

Maple stood in front of the door for a second, before she started walking down to the middle school area.

_ Wow… he thinks I’m cool,  _ she thought to herself. The rest of the day went by very quickly for Maple.


	10. Taking Small Steps

While Maple’s day may have flown by, Edmund’s went by at a crawl. A part of this was caused by pain inflicted by the fight he got caught up in. He had healing glyphs on his ribs but it still felt like he had been hit by a car. Everytime he moved his sides flared up, but he kept a cool face on. He couldn’t let anyone watching know how he felt. 

The other reason the day dragged by was that he really wasn’t looking forward to counseling. There was no getting around it, he needed it. Talking with Eda was a start, but Tuesday was the wakeup call that he had really screwed things up and needed to fix it.

_ I honestly have no idea what fixing things is going to look like,  _ Edmund thought as he sat through his final class for the day,  _ guess I’ll have to see what the shrink says. _

The final bell screamed and the class rose from their seats and began leaving the classroom Edmund knew the teacher was saying something about tomorrow’s assignment but he honestly didn’t care. He moved on autopilot, making his way outside to the school’s entrance. There was quite a crowd, Edmund hadn’t gotten out of school on time in a while and had forgotten how packed the front courtyard would be. But it was easy enough for him to spot his mom. With a gulp he walked over, more than wondering if he shouldn't just turn back and serve detention.

“Hi mom,” Edmund said as he finally reached Amity. She gave him a hug, which wasn’t the reaction he had hoped for.

“Mom!” Edmund looked around to make sure no one could see.

“Sorry,” Amity said, letting go of him, smiling. “I’m just… I’m really glad you’re actually doing this.”

“I… me too,” Edmund said, though he wasn’t sure if he should feel glad. Things had been rough for years now. One session wouldn’t fix all that, but here was his mom acting like he was a changed man already.

“Mom!” Edmund heard Carmen as she ran up to hug Amity. “I passed our runes test!”

“That’s great!” Amity bent down and hugged Carmen. Edmund turned around and saw Luz heading towards them. She didn’t look too happy to see Edmund.  _ She probably heard from Bump about what happened. _

“Hi Luz,” Amity walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Long day?”

“Yeah,” Luz kissed her back but kept her gaze on Edmund. He sighed, knowing what was about to come next. “Edmund, did you start another fight today?”

“No,” Edmund said as Amity whipped around to look at him. “I didn’t start it but I was in one. Sorry, I really wasn’t trying to get in trouble today.

“Edmund!” Amity walked back over to him, moving his head around inspecting him. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“According to nurse Hatchet he’s got bruised ribs,” Luz walked over to him too, sighing. “He also wasn’t alone, Maple was with him. If Bump hadn’t shown up who knows-”

“Maple wasn’t supposed to be there!” Edmund’s voice took on a defensive tone. “Right before the fight I told her she should stay away from me. Honestly if she hadn’t shown up I probably would have worse than bruised ribs.”

Luz and Amity looked at each other. Edmund could tell by their expressions that they were not expecting him to be this honest.

“Well,” Luz looked back to Edmund. “I’m glad you didn’t start this fight but please, hijo, be more careful.”

“Okay,” Edmund replied, feeling a lot worse about Maple now than when the fight had happened.

“We should get going,” Amity said, giving a goodbye kiss to Luz and a hug to Carmen. Edmund also hugged Carmen, but just gave Luz a wave as he climbed onto Amity’s staff. They took off with Carmen and Luz waving goodbye to them. They flew in silence into town. Coming into a landing in front of a two story building.

“This should be the place,” Amity said as she and Edmund got off. There was a sign at the door that said ‘Healer Maggie: Counseling for Children and Teenagers’. Amity and Edmund walked up to the door, Amity opening it. Inside was a small waiting room with some chairs. There were two doors next to each other on one side of the room, a staircase going upstairs on the other. A witch sat at a reception desk filling out forms, she looked up as Amity and Edmund entered. Amity walked over to the desk.

“Hello, we’re here for a 4:00pm appointment for Edmund Blight-Noceda.”

“Of course, I’ll let Maggie know you’re in. Please take a seat,” The witch smiled as she got up and headed upstairs.

Edmund wasted no time sitting down and pulling out his MP3 player. He needed something to calm him down, and a band singing about cancer usually did the trick. The receptionist came back downstairs and told Amity something Edmund couldn’t hear through his earbuds. Amity nodded and took a seat next to Edmund. A few minutes passed before a middle-aged witch came down the stairs. She had bushy hair tied back and thin rectangular glasses. She walked over and Amity stood up, Edmund took out an earbud to catch what she was saying.

“-very nice to meet you,” the woman Edmund assumed to be Maggie said, reaching out her hand. “You must be Amity correct?”

“Yes,” Amity shook the witch’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Then this must be Edmund?” Maggie offered him her hand, which Edmund half-heartedly accepted. “If you two will follow me we’ll go into the meeting room.”

Maggie opened one of the doors opposite of the staircase. Amity walked in and Edmund followed, putting away his earbuds. The room had a desk and three chairs in it. Behind the desk was a shelf full of books, Edmund guessed that most hadn’t been read in some years. Maggie sat down at the desk.

“Please grab a seat,” She said as she pulled out a notepad. Looking over notes. Edmund saw there was a lot written.  _ Probably not a great sign when she hasn’t spoken to me but has full notes.  _ “Now, I’m going to start by addressing the concerns you gave me in our conversation over the phone. Edmund, you don’t need to talk unless you want to, I won’t ask you anything until I ask your mom to leave the room okay?”

“Sure,” Edmund said.

“Alright, now, Amity you said that Edmund has been in trouble with the school for the last 4 and a half years now. Things started off innocently enough until 3 years ago, when Edmund got into a fight and lost his tooth. Since then it’s been getting progressively worse with each school year. Hexside recommended you to me, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Amity answered like she was back in school.

“He’s only caused trouble while at school, never when he’s out or at home correct?”

“No, he rarely goes out and he’s fine at home. There’s times when he’ll get into arguments with me or Luz but never more than that.”

“And Luz is your wife correct?” Maggie looked through her notes. “And she teaches at Hexside?”

“Yes, she’s at home with our daughter right now.”

“I see,” Maggie wrote something down. “You also said that you know if he had any friends at school, even other troublemakers?”

“No,” Edmund said, knowing that mom didn’t know. “I’ve only just made a friend this week. Before that I didn’t have any friends.”

“Alright,” Maggie wrote this down too. “Is there anything else I’m missing Mrs. Blight-Noceda?”

“No,” Amity looked at Edmund. “I think that’s everything.

“Good, now I need to ask you to leave the room so that I can talk with Edmund for a while. If an emergency comes up feel free to knock, but other than that please refrain from entering or listening.”

Amity nodded and got up, waving to Edmund as she left. She shut the door, leaving Edmund and the healer alone. The healer put down the notebook and looked at Edmund.

“Your mom sure seems to care about you,” Maggie said, putting on a smile.

“I know,” Edmund dismissed the remark.

“You invited her here and not your other mom, any reason why?”

“She… she has to deal with me enough.”

“I see,” Maggie raised an eyebrow but didn’t reach for her notes. “First thing’s first: I am your doctor Edmund, not your parents. The only time I would even consider breaking that rule is if you mention or I perceive any hint of self-harm or intention to harm others. Other than that I will not tell your parents what we discussed. I will tell them any diagnosis I have in regards to your mental health but will never go into specifics. This is so they can work around treatments and recommendations I have for how to help you.”

“Sounds fair,” Edmund nodded along, still unsure about this whole situation.

“Good, so why don’t I open up the conversation to you: what do you want out of this Edmund?”

“I want…” Edmund fumbled,  _ what do I want? _ “I guess I want to improve myself.”

“And what does that look like for you?”

“I don’t know, look, I know I need help but I don’t know where to start.”

“That’s good,” Maggie nodded and leaned back in her chair. “Acceptance is hard to have. Is it okay if I list some areas people usually say they want to fix?”

“Go for it.”

“Let’s start with family, you said you didn’t want to bother Luz. How is your relationship with her?”

“Terrible,” Edmund said, rolling his eyes. “She’s trying her best but she’s trying to be my mom and teacher.”

“Would you rather her be one or the other?”

“No,” Edmund said reflexively. “She’s a great teacher and a great mom but it feels more and more like she’s my teacher.”

“I see, why do you think she’s being more and more like your teacher?”

“Isn’t it obvious!” Edmund exclaimed. “It’s because I’m not fitting into her plan.”

“Her plan?” Maggie said calmly. “What is her plan?”

“To be perfect! She has this perfect plan for how everything is going to go. Marrying mom, getting her dream job, having two kids. She needs everything to be part of this plan and then that changed.”

“What do you think changed it?”

“I did,” Edmund said. “I changed it before she could.”

“By she, do you mean Luz?”

“No, I mean-” Edmund stopped himself. “It’s just that things would’ve gone wrong in her plan sooner rather than later, and I wanted to be what was wrong.”

“Hmmm,” Edmund could feel Maggie gauging whether or not to push further on the subject. “What about Amity, does she have a plan?”

“Who doesn’t?” Edmund felt eased by the change in topic. “It’s just not this paint by numbers thing mamá has. She just wants all of us to be happy.”

“And are you happy Edmund?”

“When I’m with them yeah, when we’re not arguing.”

“How often do you argue though?”

“With mom not often.”

“But you do still have arguments?”

“Yeah... but with her it makes sense.”

“Interesting, so your arguments with Luz don’t make sense?”

“They will and they won’t. Like Monday she got on my case for my room being messy. Then she jumped to me needing counseling like that was the natural progression for untidiness.”

“Does Luz usually make that kind of decision: counseling, meals, schools, trips?”

“No… I don’t think so… she just knows what she wants. Mom will speak her mind and mamá will listen.”

“Okay,” Maggie folded her hands together. “What about how Luz treats you at school?”

“Like I said, she’s more my teacher than my mamá recently.”

“Do you have any classes with her?”

“No, I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“Do what exactly?”

“You know,” Edmund shifted a little. “Not do my work, distract the class, make her want to give up teaching.”

“Is that how you treat the other teachers?”

“I mean, obviously I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t causing trouble.”

“Well what about the fights you get into. You ruining classes is very different from you hurting other kids.”

“I don’t try to start fights,” Edmund’s hand moved to his mouth, his thumb rubbed the gap where his tooth used to be. “Most times it’s kids looking for revenge against my pranks.”

“But you also don’t back away, correct?”

“No,” Edmund lowered his hand. 

“Do your moms know about every fight you’ve been in?”

“No.”

“Do you like the fights?”

“Of course not!”

“So why fight?”

“Because…” Edmund really considered answering honestly. “I don’t want to answer that.”

Maggie nodded in understanding. “That’s okay, you set the pace for these meetings. Is it okay if I make a note of that?”

“Sure,” Edmund said, and Maggie grabbed her pad and jotted something down. “How come you aren’t taking notes for the rest of this?”

“I believe that the first meeting shouldn’t be so much trying to solve the problem as identifying it. Most times during our future sessions I won’t be taking many notes either, just the important things.”

“So my fighting is important?”

“Any violence in a teenager’s life is important,” Maggie explained as she put the notepad down. “It’s okay to feel uncomfortable talking about it, especially with this being the first time you’ve talked to me. I’d like to take a brief break from these general questions and return to what you want out of our sessions.”

“Okay,” Edmund thought for a second. “I guess… short term I just want to stop fighting with everyone.”

“Alright, well let’s break that down a little more.” Maggie unfolded her hands and put them on opposite sides of her desk. “You’ve got the fights at school, the fights with teachers, and the fights with parents. Realistically we can solve the school fights and the teacher fights with work. The fights with parents are naturally part of growing up. Can I rephrase your problem to improve your relationship with your parents?”

“Why?” Edmund asked. “Aren’t I supposed to be here to stop fighting them.”

“Yes, but we need to set realistic and manageable goals. If we don’t, and I say ‘you’ll never argue with your parents again’ then your expectations for what we can do in our sessions will never match what we can do.”

“I see,” Edmund sighed. “You think I can stop the fights with teachers and students though?”

“With time,” Maggie said calmly and straightforwardly. “I’d like to go ahead and set up weekly sessions with you. We can adjust that as needed, either with more or fewer sessions but to start with we’ll schedule a meeting for next Thursday after school.

“Will this really help?” Edmund asked the question that had been on his mind since Luz came into his room Monday.

“I’ll say the same to your mom but this isn’t a one and done deal. I think we’ve had a good start today and I’m starting to see what we’ll need to work on in future sessions. I’m going to let you know now that things may get worse at first. We’ll be confronting a lot of harsh truths and lies. It’s natural to react with anger at things you thought you knew turning out to be false. But yes, I think the fact that you’re acknowledging the need for improvement is a great sign that we can help you feel more comfortable in school and at home. If you feel comfortable with it, I’m going to bring Amity back to the room in a minute and we’ll wrap up today's session. First though, I’d like to give you something to work on until our next session.”

“Sure,” Edmund said, unsure what to expect.

“I want you to fill out this sheet,” Maggie said, reaching through a drawer and pulling out two pieces of paper. “There are five questions about your family. I want you to answer all five to the best of your ability. No one else needs to see it, not even me, but if you want to share it with anyone you can. The other are ways for you to de-escalate situations at school. I’d like it if you would try to use these next time someone tries to start something with you. If you don’t, then let me know next time. 

Edmund nodded and reached out. Maggie handed him the pieces of paper. Edmund grabbed them, and scanned the questions. They were general questions of his relationships with them, what the worst fight he’d been in was, does he feel threatened in his home.

“One more thing Edmund, remember what I told you at the beginning of our session, about what I will and won’t tell your parents? We need to tell Amity this when she comes back in, either you can tell her or I can.”

“Go ahead,” Edmund put the paper in his satchel. Maggie stood up and walked to the door, opening it and poking her head out.

“Amity, can you come back in here?”

Maggie sat back in her desk, Amity stepped back in the room and smiled at Edmund before sitting down.

“Welcome back, we had a great first session. Now there’s a few things I need to say regarding what I can tell you and Luz about our sessions.”

“Oh! Yeah go ahead.”

“Well, obviously if Edmund tells me or if I believe with certainty that he might hurt himself or someone else I’ll be contacting you two immediatly. Other than that Edmund will have complete healer/patient confidentiality. Do you understand?”

“Of course,” Amity replied, looking to Edmund.

“Good, I’ll also share any diagnosis I make with you two, as well as how I recommend treating or acting on them. At this point, I’m not ready to make more than a very loose generalization of Edmund’s current behavioral issues. I’ve got a few more points to run down but I’ll go back to this later. We also need to address the financial aspect of our time. You said money is no problem, will this be out of pocket or through coven insurance?”

“Out of pocket,” Amity said nodding. “Our family doesn’t qualify since being human qualifies as having ‘pre-cursed conditions’.”

“I see,” Maggie picked up her notepad and noted this. “Both you and Luz work, correct?”

“Yes, I’m in the Abominations research field.”

“That’s very impressive.” Maggie put down the notepad and opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. “I’ve recommended, and Edmund agreed to, a weekly meeting to start out with. This paper had all the details on payment options, canceling fees, extensions, and options for payment deferment. Both you and Luz will need to sign off on this and bring it in on your next session.”

“No problem,” Amity smiled and grabbed the paper. She read over it, her eyes a blur. “This won’t be a problem for us, and these are the monthly costs without insurance?”

“Yes,” Maggie reached into her drawer and pulled out another piece of paper. “This sheet has all of the ways you can contact me directly. Please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding Edmund and how you can help him or what you can do to deal with a situation he’s in. You need to know that I will tell Edmund about any communications we have and what was said. He needs to know that I’m not withholding anything from him in our sessions. Anything Edmund shares with me through these communications stays between us unless he’s threatening his own or someone else’s safety.”

“What if there’s something I say you can share?” Edmund piped up.

“Well, in that case it’d be up to my discernment on whether or not to share that. Now-” Maggie looked at Amity with her most serious face. “I need to make something perfectly clear. I am here to help Edmund but this is a process. The amount of progress we make isn’t going to be easy to see between sessions. You might even see him get worse in some areas. This is normal for teenagers, but I should still be informed of fights as they happen at school and at home.”

“Okay,” Amity matched Maggie’s expression, Edmund assumed to show how committed she was to Edmund.

“That brings us to my initial impressions, would you two like to hear them or would you rather wait until I’ve spent more time with Edmund.”

“I…” Amity looked at Edmund, she had an uncertain look on her.  _ It’ll be okay,  _ Edmund thought, pushing his own concerns out of the way,  _ this is what we need.  _ Edmund nodded at Amity, who looked back at Maggie. “I want to hear what you think so far.”

“Well, from everything I learned, I believe Edmund has an authoritative complex that pits him against Luz.”

“Luz?” Amity said, surprised. “I know they’ve been rough recently.”

“This isn’t recent, nor is it either’s fault,” Maggie explained. “This is still only my best guess at this point. For our next session I’d like for you and Luz to both come in to talk before Edmund and I begin.”

“I think we can manage that,” Amity said. “Is there anything we can do until next week.”

“At this point nothing specific,” Maggie pulled out some more sheets of paper. “These have information regarding ways to deal with conflict between yourselves and Edmund. Otherwise I’ll see you all next week.”

Maggie stood up and offered her hand for them to shake. Amity stood up and accepted the shake.

“Thank you so much Maggie,” She said, letting go of the healer's hand. Maggie then reached over to Edmund, who also accepted it.

“Thanks, I… I appreciate this.” Edmund said, Maggie smiled and nodded and went over and opened the door.

“Remember to be in touch if anything comes up.”

With that they left the counselor’s office. Once they were outside Amity looked at Edmund as she pulled out her staff.

“Well she seemed nice, how do you think it went?”

“This is going to help,” Edmund answered honestly. Amity smiled and mounted her staff. Edmund also got on and they were off, high above the town. “I’m sorry mom.”

“For what?” Amity sounded concerned.

“That I put you in this situation,” Edmund looked at the people below them going about their day. “You shouldn’t have to dea-”

“Edmund this isn’t on you,” Amity interrupted him. “I’ve been ignoring this for too long, Luz has been trying to help too but we both should have been.”

“No mom this is-”

“This is on all of us,” Amity turned and looked at Edmund. He could see the wells of tears forming in her eyes. “I’m just glad you’re actually doing it.”

“Me too,” Edmund reached forward and hugged Amity. “Me too.”


	11. Her Mistake

“So this rune means… love… no life… I’m pretty sure.” Luz looked through Carmen’s papers again. For as used to the Boiling Isles as she was, she never got the hang of runes. It wasn’t too bad, most things were written in English anyway. But when Amity went so far out of her way to learn as much Spanish as she did Luz always felt guilty she couldn’t get this part of her wife’s culture.

“I think it’s fish mamá.” Carmen said, practicing writing the rune on her worksheet.

“No, I’m sure this one…” Luz found the piece of paper with the translations. “Fish, I’ve been writing fish instead of life for 20 years and no one told me.”

“People must love fish,” Carmen looked up at Luz and smiled before returning to her work.

“I guess so,” Luz sighed. It was almost dinner and Amity and Edmund still weren’t back. Not that she had expected it to go quickly, she wanted Edmund to get the right help, no matter the cost or time. She just worried about them, even though Edmund had shown who he cared about more.

“I think I’m done,” Carmen held up her paper for Luz to see. Luz examined it, but the paper could’ve been wrong and Luz wouldn’t know. She put it down. 

_ Amity will have to double check this one,  _ she thought,  _ I’m probably worse at this than Carmen! _

“What’s next mija?” Luz looked at what was left and grabbed a paper. “Field trip to the Knee huh? You know, that’s where mamá learned her second spell.”

“Really!” Carmen practically shouted. “Can I learn my second spell there too?”

“Have you been practicing your light glyph?”

Carmen nodded and pulled out a blank piece of paper. She drew the glyph and tapped it, the paper becoming a ball of light.

“Very good,” Luz smiled as the ball of light floated past her. “I think you’re ready to learn a second spell. Let me think, the plant glyph is too hard for you to control, the ice and fire glyphs are too dangerous…”

“Do you know the telekinetic spell?”

“Hmmmm,” Luz scratched her chin. “That’s a little hard, I think the levitate spell would be easi-”

“But Nora can do the telekinetic spell!” Carmen said. “If I can’t do that how can I prove I’m a real witch?”

“Carmen, you are a real witch.” Luz wrapped her arms around Carmen. “Just because Nora doesn’t think so-”

“But how can I prove it if I can’t do what Nora can?”

“Because you’ll do things Nora can’t,” Luz reassured Carmen. “Look at me, I can’t do half of what mom can do. But mom can’t do half of what I can either.”

Carmen folded her arms in silence, her lips jutting out in a pout. 

“Speaking of Nora,” Luz started, knowing that Carmen wasn’t going to like this conversation. “The other day Mrs. Abbott told me you called her a liar.”

“She is,” Carmen said, still pouting.

“Mrs. Abbott also said you made her cry,” Luz got up and walked to face Carmen. “That you interrupted her apology and said she was lying about it.”

“She was!” Carmen said, looking up at Luz confused. “Why am I in trouble when Nora is the one being bad?”

“You aren’t in trouble,” Luz put her hand on Carmen’s shoulder. “You just need to know that there's a right way to talk about bullies and a wrong way. When someone is apologizing, even if they don’t mean it, you need to let them apologize.”

“No, she needed to mean it!” Carmen started tearing up. “You said if I forgave her I would feel better. But I don’t! Now Alden won’t feel better because Nora’s a big stinking liar just like you!”

Carmen ran off from the living room. Luz heard her door open and slam shut. 

_ No no no no not her too!  _ Luz’s thoughts raced as she stood up and walked over to Carmen’s room.

“Carmen, mija?” Luz knocked on the door, she could hear crying coming from the other side.

“GO... AWAY!” Carmen shouted through deep sobs. “You.. said… forgiving her… would make me feel better… but I feel… worse! You said… to be honest…. But that didn’t help! You said… I… was… a… witch… BUT I’M NOT! I’M… NEVER… TALKING… TO… YOU… AGAIN!!

Luz stepped back from the door, breathing heavily in panic. She bumped into the wall and sank to the floor. She sat there in silence listening to Carmen cry for a minute until her daughter quieted down. Luz waited for the door to open, for her little girl to come out. For her to apologize so that Luz could tell her everything would be okay. Minutes passed and nothing changed. Luz just sat on the floor, each second bringing a new tear down her face.

Then the front door opened.

“Luz, Carmen we’re home!” Amity called as she stepped into the house. Luz heard her kick off her shoes. “We had a good first day with the counselor. She seemed really confident in Edmund so that’s good.”

Amity walked past the hall to the kitchen, stopping when she saw no one in there. She turned around and looked down the hall.

“Luz?” Amity asked as she walked over to her. “What’s going on?”

“I… I... She… Amity she…”

“Luz, you need to calm down,” Amity sat down next to Luz. Putting an arm around her shoulder. “What happened? Is Carmen okay?”

“She hates me,” Luz felt the panic strangle her spirit. “She hates me and she should. I’m failing her. I’m failing Edmund. I shouldn’t be their mother. They’d be better off-”

“Mamá what are you saying?!” Edmund rushed over, his shoes untied but not off. “You’re a great mom.”

“You don’t understand,” Luz closed her eyes, trying to regain control. “It’s my fault.”

“No, it’s mine, I’ve got a authoritative complexion or whatever but I’m goin-”

“IT’S MY FAULT CARMEN CAN’T DO MAGIC NATURALLY!”

The house fell silent except for the sounds of Luz crying. The door to Carmen’s room opened up, Carmen glanced out nervously.

“Mamá?”

Luz opened her eyes as Carmen walked over and hugged her.

“I’m sorry I made you cry, I’ll talk to you again.”

“Carmen…” Luz said, finally getting her breathing under control. “I… am… so… sorry.”

“Hang on,” Edmund backed up, his hands on his temple. “What do you mean it’s your fault Carmen can’t do magic naturally.”

Amity looked at Luz, her eyes full of sadness and pain. “Well, we were going to tell you both when Carmen was older. We didn’t think that she would be picked on so much this ear-”

“I should’ve known,” Luz said, gripping Carmen as tightly as she could. “I just wanted to believe things would be different for her.”

“Right, but... Carmen?” Edmund’s face was running through several emotions. Amity stood up, helping Luz and Carmen off the floor.

“Why don’t we go to the living room?” Amity made the suggestion sound like a command. Luz nodded and started walking while carrying Carmen. She sat on the couch, Amity next to her, holding Luz’s hand. Edmund sat on the floor, legs crossed.

“Well… I guess we need to start with you Edmund.” Amity started, looking between everyone trying to figure out the best way to proceed. “When you were born, Luz and I were the happiest parents in the universe. You made our lives better everyday with everything you did. When you started going to school, we decided to have another kid. We waited a few years for you to get used to school and then we decided to have Carmen. I had carried you, Edmund, so Luz wanted to carry our next baby.”

“I thought I could do it,” Luz said hallowly, her left knee shaking while her right leg supported Carmen, who was looking at her in confusion. “I wanted this to be the last thing I needed to do to prove humans could make it on the Boiling Isles. We were being so careful, I didn’t take any risks. Then… two months away from when you were due…”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Are you sure you need to see your mom today?” Amity asked, struggling to pack all of Edmund’s homework in his backpack. “If you waited until the weekend I could go with you. Or even if you waited till noon than Eda can-”

“Amity,” Luz walked over, grabbing her hand. “Everything is okay! I’m just going over to visit my mom and spend the day catching up with her. This is her one day off call for a while and I don’t want any interruptions.”

“I know, but what if something happens?” Amity looked deep into Luz’s eyes, pleading with her not to go.

“If anything goes wrong, I’ll be with the best nurse in any realm,” Luz reassured Amity, moving her wife’s hand onto her round stomach. “I’m not going to let anything happen to us. I promise.”

Amity closed her eyes as she felt their unborn child move around. Luz knew Amity wouldn’t be comfortable with this but she needed to speak with her mamá. She needed to get out of the house a little. More importantly, she needed more of her mom’s cooking.  _ Stupid Boiling Isles dishes need more spices _ , Luz thought daydreaming of eating anything except the 4 things Amity knew to cook, takeout, or something she had to stand for more than 10 minutes to make

“Okay,” Amity moved her hand off Luz’s stomach. “But please be careful!”

“Don’t worry,” Luz kissed Amity. “Now go get Edmund to school or he’ll be late.”

Edmund ran up to Luz and wrapped his 8 year old arms around her.

“Love you mamá, say hi to Abuela for me!”

“Love you sweetie, be good today.”

“Always!”

Luz waved as Amity and Edmund left the house. She had a few hours to kill before she had to meet Camila for lunch. She got ready for her day, not doing too much but enough that she felt that she looked good for being 7 months pregnant. She stood in the living room looking at the giant bump that used to be her tummy.

“Are you ready to see Abuela’s casa?” Luz asked her stomach. She felt the baby move. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Luz reached for her portal to the human realm, which she kept on a necklace. She pulled it out and activated it, opening the door between realms right there in her living room. 

_ Worst case scenario,  _ Luz thought as she walked through,  _ we have to walk less than a quarter mile back because I feel sick or something.  _ She took a deep breath as she entered the cabin that acted as the anchor point between the realms.

“Smell that bebe? That’s what mamá’s home smells like.” Luz exited the cabin and started walking. She was halfway to her mamá’s house when she saw Camila running over.

“Estas loca mija?” Camila cried, carefully hugging her daughter. “You should have waited for me.”

“Estoy bien mamá,” Luz hugged Camila back. “I can walk around just fine.”

“Not with my nieta you’re carrying!”

“What makes you think it’ll be a girl?” Luz giggled as Camila grabbed her hand and the two started walking. 

“Grandparents know these things, I knew Edmund would be a boy didn’t I?”

“Yeah, after you changed your mind like 50 times.”

“Well this time I won’t change my mind!” Camila declared proudly. “You’re going to have a girl and she’ll be every bit as amazing as her mamá!”

“Thanks,” Luz looked at her old home as they approached it. It hadn’t changed since the day she first left when she was a teen. They walked in, Luz kicked off her shoes and sighed at the feeling of freeing her feet. She all but collapsed onto the couch.

“Ugh why didn’t you guys warn me being pregnant was so hard?”

“Well I figured you would think about yourself anytime you thought about having kids and that would be enough to stop you. And Amity is crazy about you and wouldn’t stop you unless it was the stupidest thing you could do.”

“But Amity never talked about this! She was all like ‘Oh the baby’s moving’ or ‘my feet are a little sore today’ and I literally want to eat all the food in this house but my stomach will hate almost all of it!”

Camila sat down next to Luz, who was about to go into full complain mode.

“I’m bored out of my mind at home, but I was getting too exhausted at work. So now I’m trying to find new glyphs but I can’t go an hour without having to go to the bathroom! Every five minutes the baby decides to move which throws me off balance! The only shoes that fit comfortably are these therapeutic slippers Eda found in a trash slug!”

“Yeah,” Camila said laughing. “Just wait until she tells you all about these problems when she has kids.”

“Don’t even go there!” Luz said, moving over so she could lean on Camila. “I’ve missed you mamá. I wish you could be there with us when she gets here.”

“I know,” Camila wrapped an arm around Luz. “You’ll be okay though. I’ll come right over to look after Edmund.”

“He’ll like that,” Luz jerked a little as the baby moved. “He’s doing great in school. He’s got Amity’s brains for studying.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Camila said. “You figured out those glyphs all on your own. I’d say that makes you smarter than Amity.”

“Different smarts mamá,” Luz said. The baby was really excited to be in the human world and was making her uncomfortable. “Regardless of who he takes after, Edmund is going to be smarter than both of us.”

“That’s all a parent should want,” Camila stood up. “I’m going to start making lunch, how does niños envueltos sound?”

“Yes!” Luz laid out on the couch after Camila got up. “This child needs to taste something from home.”

“Amity still not much of a cook huh?”

“She’s trying but I’m convinced no one in the Boiling Isles have their taste buds intact.”

“Maybe you should quit teaching and open a restaurant?” Camila joked from the kitchen. “Or I could move there and open one?”

“Don’t tempt me,” Luz called out. “We’d go there everyday.”

Luz picked herself up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Camila must have gotten most of the things ready before Luz had got there because she was already filling the cabbage with rice and meat. A tomato sauce was simmering on the stove.

“We joke a lot about it,” Luz said, sitting at the table. “But if you do want to move to the Boiling Isles you can. We’d all be happy to help you move and stuff.”

“I know,” Camila said as she placed the cabbage rolls in the oven to cook. “But that world, it scares me, confuses me. You belong there and I’ll always be happy to visit but this is my home.”

“I understand,” Luz sighed. “It’s just so hard communicating between two worlds, and you’re always so busy with your work.”

“Everyone has to go through it,” Camila set an egg timer and walked to the table, sitting in front of Luz. “When Edmund moves out it’ll feel like he’s in another dimension too. Just as long as he knows he’s always welcome back home he’ll keep visiting.”

“Gracias mamá,” Luz held out her hand which Camila grabbed. “I really needed to talk to you.”

“De nada mija, how is Eda doing?”

Luz and Camila talked up until lunch was ready. Luz devoured the cabbage rolls, little bits of heaven in food form.  _ This,  _ Luz thought digging into her third roll,  _ more of this is exactly what I needed _ . She looked up and saw Camila watching her with wide eyes.

“Have you been eating properly mija?” She asked, concerned.

“I have, I swear,” Luz said with her mouthful. “I just missed these so much.”

“Well, I think we should have leftovers,” Camila said, glancing at the remaining rolls. “Bring them home with you.”

“Yeah,” Luz said, putting her fork, the baby felt like it was somersaulting in her. “I think the baby’s telling me to stop eating. It’s been moving around all day like crazy.”

“Should we get you home?” Camila finished her roll and wiped off her mouth.

“No,” Luz waved off the concern. She finally got to spend some time with her mamá, she didn’t want it to end because the baby was just excited.  _ I’m fine,  _ Lus assured herself,  _ everything is okay, the baby is just excited because we’re in a new realm.  _ “Are you done? I can take care of our plates.”

Luz stood up and grabbed her plate, Camila slid hers over. Luz brought the plates to the sink and put them in it. Then she reached into a cupboard and grabbed a glass. She turned on the sink and filled it.

“Mija if you aren’t feeling good you should go home,” Camila said, her tone saddening. “I was looking forward spending the afternoon with you too but you’ve got to-”

A splashing sound interrupted Camila, Luz froze in place, turning off the sink. Something bad was happening, her stomach started cramping, her heartbeat quickened.

“Mamá,” Luz turned around. “I think my water just broke!”


	12. Far Away, So Close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this has certainly been a week. As promised I've got the next two chapters ready to go for your enjoyment. I'm almost done writing the rest of this but I'm struggling with how it should end. Once I'm done I'll be taking a brief break to work on school work and some of my personal projects. After that I'm planning on doing two Owl House fanfics at once. One is going to be a continuation of this, the other you'll find out about later. Hope you enjoy these new chapters, and I'll see you on Wednesday.

Camila moved Luz to the couch, her daughter was trying to control her breathing but panic was taking over.

“Easy Luz,” Camila went to the entrance and grabbed Luz’s shoes. She brought them over and put them on her feet. “We’re going to go back to the cabin and we’ll get you the help you need okay?”

“Yeah,” Luz said, staying calm and smiling. “Everythings okay, I’m just early, we can fix this.”

“Right,” Camila smiled and helped Luz stand up. They made it to the door when Luz doubled over. She grabbed Camila’s arm and squeezed it, Camila thought she might actually break it.

“We… we have to go!” Luz staggered outside, Camila rushed after her, stepping in front of her. 

“Mija, something is wrong, I don’t think we can make it to the Boiling Isles.”

“Mamá,” Luz tried to stand up straight, only to double over again. “I need to go to our healer, I think this is a magic thing.” 

“Regardless of what kind of thing this is there isn’t exactly 911 in the Boiling Isles,” Camila reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. “If you’re in danger we need to get you medical attention.”

“Mamá no,” Luz looked into the woods, Camila knew she was hoping to see the cabin from here. “It’s right there, we’ll walk over an-”

“Then what, we’ll walk to the hospital from there?”

“I… I need Amity,” Luz took another step towards the woods.

“Luz Noceda!” Camila turned Luz to face her. “I am your nurse and your mother! I am telling you right now that what’s best for you is to go to the hospital so that’s what we’re doing.”

“What about the baby?” Luz asked the question Camila was dreading hearing. 

“Luz,” Camila hugged Luz and closed her eyes. “I can’t lose you again. I’m sorry, but this isn’t a choice you can make.”

Camila didn’t need to look to know Luz was tearing up. Camila let go of Luz and turned her attention to her phone. She dialed 3 numbers and waited for the other line to pick up.

“911 what’s your emergency?” The voice on the other side asked.

“Hello, my daughter just went into labor, she’s 2 months early and she’s having trouble moving. I’m a nurse and I’m concerned there’s something wrong with her.”

“I understand, we’ll send an ambulance over right away, what is your location.”

Camila gave the operator her address and looked over to Luz, she was crying, her arms wrapped around her stomach as though she could physically protect the baby from the danger facing them. The operator hung up and Camila walked over to Luz.

“They’ll be here in a few minutes,” Camila informed Luz though she doubted Luz heard her. “Let’s sit on the stairs, we need to get your breathing in control mija.”

Camila led Luz to the stairs, but Luz was focused on her unborn daughter. Camila sat Luz down and then lightly tapped her cheek. This brought Luz back to her.

“Luz, I need you to be here for this,” Camila said, Luz nodded and she started taking deep breaths.

“I’m here mamá,” Luz said, still nodding. “I’m scared but I’m here.”

“Good,” Camila was in full nurse mode and checked Luz’s pulse. It was high even for labor. “Do you have a headache?”

“Yeah,” Luz said through breaths. “It’s not that bad though.”

“Double vision?”

“Just a little, I- ARGH!”

Luz bent over, screaming, as a contraction hit. Once it passed Luz’s breath quickened but she did so rhythmically to help her retain control. Camila ran back inside and grabbed her medical bag. She brought it outside and pulled out the stethoscope. She held it up to Luz’s stomach and tried to find the baby’s heartbeat. After moving positions a few times Camila finally found the faint sound of the heart. She looked at her watch and counted

_ 98 BPM, this isn’t good,  _ Camila thought,  _ where is the ambulance? _

“Mom, is the baby okay?” Luz asked, her breathing sounding much steadier.

“We need to get you to the hospital,” Camila answered honestly. “The heartbeat is much lower than it should be.”

“Will it be okay?”

Camila hid any emotion from her face,  _ Luz is your patient now. You can be her mom when she’s at the hospital _ .

“I won’t know until we get to the hospital.” Camila took off the stethoscope. She finally heard the sound of sirens approaching them. The ambulance pulled over right in front of them and two EMTs rushed out with a stretcher.

“Here!” Camila called them. The EMTs ran over and got on opposite sides of Luz.

“Can you stand ma’am?”

Luz tried to stand but clenched up and sat back. The EMTs moved to opposite sides of her and carefully picked her. They put her on the stretcher and one of them looked at Camila.

“Will you be riding with us?”

“Yes, I-”

“Mamá wait!” Luz sat up and looked at Camila. “Amity! Amity needs to know!”

“I…” Camila looked from Luz to the woods. “I need to make sure you’re okay Luz. After we get you situated at the hospital I’ll come right back and grab Amity.”

Luz shook her head and pulled out her phone, she handed it to Camila.

“Go back to the cabin and put this on our counter. Write a quick note saying to call you.”

“Okay,” Camila grabbed the phone and looked at the EMTs. “I’ll be just a few minutes, they live close by but her wife doesn’t have a phone.”

One of the EMTs nodded and Camila ran into the woods. She wasn’t in the greatest shape but she managed to reach the cabin in a few minutes. She ran in and came out in Luz’s house. She found a pencil, a piece of paper and quickly wrote down: ‘Baby emergency, Luz in the human world, call me- Camila.’ She went back through the door and ran back to the ambulance.

“Sorry, how is she?” Camila asked, panting as she got into the vehicle.

“Not great,” an EMT said, hooking Luz up to a blood monitoring system. “We’ll need to get to the hospital to pinpoint what’s going on but the baby’s heartbeat isn’t looking great.”

“It was at 98 BPM when I checked a few minutes ago,” Camila said, Luz had her eyes closed and was focused on controlling her breathing.

“We’re at 94 now,” the other EMT said, listening through a stethoscope. “It’s dropping but I can’t say why with certainty. We’ll be dropping her off at the ICU right away.”

Camila sat back and let the EMTs do their work. They pulled into the hospital and they rushed Luz out on the stretcher. She had some more contractions but they were still far apart. The EMTs moved Luz onto a hospital bed and headed out. Camila sat next to Luz, putting on a mask and gloves.

“Don’t worry mija,” Camila held Luz’s hand. “We’ll see a nurse in just a minute.”

“What about Amity, you left a note right?”

“Yes,” Camila was glad her face was hidden by the mask. “She’ll call me once she gets home. She’ll be here before you know it.”

“Okay, okay,” Luz gripped Camila’s hand a little harder. 

A young man came up, wearing a mask and gloves.

“Hello,” He shut the curtains around Luz and Camila. In his hands were two clipboards. “We’re going to be moving you up the maternity ward in just a minute, we just need some basic information from you first.”

He handed Camila one of the clipboards, then walked over and started making notes on Luz’s blood pressure .

“How long ago did contractions start?”

“About half an hour, forty-five minutes ago,” Camila answered while filling out the clipboard.

“And did the water break?”

“Yes, almost right after Luz said that something didn’t feel right. She was able to walk outside but after that she couldn’t stand on her own.”

“Okay,” the nurse wrote down on his clipboard. “When was the due date?”

“Two months from now,” Luz answered. “The 12th of December was what our healer said.”

“Healer?” the nurse asked, glancing up.

“She meant doctor,” Camila finished up filling her sheet. It was all of Luz’s basic information and Camila realized how much trouble they were going to be in. She had no insurance, no real medical records from the last 20 years, everything she had was in the Boiling Isles.  _ We’ll figure this out later, treatment first.  _

“Alright,” the nurse pushed down on buttons on Luz’s bed, unlocking it and started pushing it. “We’re going up to the maternity ward now. Will anyone else be joining you?”

“My wife,” Luz said. “She won’t be home for a while though.”

“Well, she may miss the birth,” the nurse made his way down the hall to an elevator. “We’re going to give you an ultrasound and fetal echocardiogram. See if we can’t figure out why your baby’s blood pressure is so low.”

The ride to ward felt agonizing for Camila. Luz was doing her best but there was no denying this wasn’t the ideal situation she wanted to be in. Nothing Camila could do would change that there was the chance that despite everything they did, they might lose the baby. It’s half-witch nature was going to throw off doctors on top of what was going wrong. All they could do is hope for the best.

The elevator door opened and they rushed out. The nurse called out to another nurse to grab a gown and a cup. The bed was pushed into a private room and against the wall. The other nurse came in with what their nurse called for and put it on the room’s movable table.

“I’m going to get the doctor and midwife while you get changed. If you can, we’ll need a urine sample to see if we can’t figure out if there’s an infection.”

With that the nurse left, Camila moved into action, grabbing everything in one hand.

“Come on Mija,” Camila said, putting Luz’s arm around her to help her stand up. They walked over to the room’s bathroom and Camila waited, checking her phone but seeing no messages or missed calls. After a minute Luz stepped out, wearing the gown, she handed Camila the cup and stumbled back into the bed. Camila rushed it out to the desk and they took it from there. Turning around, Camila saw the nurse returning, along with someone else (she assumed the doctor) along with some equipment. She hurried back to the room. 

“-name is Doctor Marcus,” the doctor introduced himself to luz. “We’re going to start with the ultrasound and see if we can’t figure out what’s going in there.”

Luz nodded, the doctor lifted up her gown and poured jelly on it. Luz shivered at the feeling.

“Is this the first ultrasound you’ve had?” The doctor asked.

“Yes,” Luz said. “We’ve gone to our usual h… doctor and he’s said we’re healthy but I didn’t want to know the gender.”

“Well we’re going to have to ruin the surprise,” the doctor said as he grabbed the wand and held it up to Luz’s stomach. An black and white image appeared on the monitor. A little positioning and the doctor found the baby.

“And there it is,” the doctor said. Luz’s face broke into a smile, seeing her child for the first time. “Let’s see how… she’s doing.”

“She?” Luz asked in disbelief. “It’s a girl?”

“Yep,” the doctor squinted at the screen. “Well… this is weird but not the problem.”

“What?”

“Look at these ears,” the nurse walked over and looked at them. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Luz looked to Camila, who saw the panic over how to explain what they were seeing on the monitor.

“They’re genetic,” Camila covered in a half truth. “They’re uncommon but my cousin has them too.”

“Well, certainly going to make Halloween fun,” the doctor tried to lighten the mood. “Now for the heart… it’s still beating at 94 so that’s a good sign. We’re going to go ahead and do the fetal echocardiogram.”

He moved the ultrasound away and pulled over a nearly identical machine.

“What is this, fetal echocardiogram?” Luz asked as the doctor put a little more jelly on her.

“It’s a more focused ultrasound,” the doctor explained calmly. “It’ll let me make a more accurate picture of the heart.” 

With that he put the new wand on Luz, in near the same spot as before. A little repositioning and he had the heart locked down.

“The heart looks okay, no rupt-” the doctor paused, then rubbed his thumb against the screen like he was trying to clean it. “That can’t be right.”

“What’s wrong?” Luz looked at the monitor, but couldn’t tell what was wrong. Camila held her breath, this was worse than she dared hope.

“How do…” the doctor looked at Luz, his eyes reflecting the monitor. “Maam, your child’s heart has a tumor and it’s… it’s ruptured.”

“What?” Luz looked at the monitor, but she just didn’t see what Camila could. Attached to the heart was what looked like a sac. Luz and Amity had explained what bile sacs were before and Camila knew this must be that. The source where all witches naturally created magic they could use whenever they wanted. What should be a healthy organ looked like a deflated balloon. Whatever caused it must have happened recently, it also probably triggered the Labor.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor looked at Luz with sympathy. “There’s good news and bad news with this. We’ve got the right surgeons on call who can treat this. They’re some of the best in the nation.”

“What’s the bad news?” Luz said, Camila could hear her voice hallowing in fear.

“Well, this isn’t going to be a one and done procedure,” the doctor explained. “Assuming this first surgery is successful, she’s going to need constant attention for a few days. Then we’ll need to bring her back for follow ups.”

“I… We… can’t…” Luz started at the monitor like it was a death sentence while the doctor saved images for reference. He turned off the machine and stood up.

“I understand your pain,” the doctor said emphatically. “My little boy was born with congenital heart defects. It’s scary but this is treatable. We’re going to go ahead with the delivery, getting the baby out now is going to be its best chance. I see no reason for a C-section at the moment, that can change if her heart rate drops more and we need to get her out sooner. I’m going to send these images along to our surgeon so we can start prep. The midwife will be over soon. We’ll give you both some privacy right now.”

The doctor and the nurse left Camila and Luz alone. A contraction distracted Luz for a moment, but Camila knew they needed to talk.

“Mija,” Camila sat down next to Luz, pulling down her mask so Luz could see her face. “What the doctor said isn-”

“Mamá,” Luz sounded so much like a child again, Camila thought, so afraid. “What did I do?”

“Nothing,” Camila said fiercely. “There is not a single thing you did wrong. We don’t know what caused the damage to the… bile sac… it’s very unlikely that you caused-”

“Of course I did!” Luz shouted as another contraction hit. “I caused this by coming here!”

Luz started breathing heavily again, Camila guessed it wasn’t just to fight the pain.

“I just missed you,” Luz said through gritted teeth. “I wanted to see you so badly I took my child out of the only place I knew she would be safe. Magic exists everywhere in the Boiling Isles, but it doesn’t in me. When I took her here I separated that magic from her. That must have damaged her bile sac.”

“I…” Camila tried to find a flaw in Luz’s reasoning but it seemed soundproof. Camila knew so little about how magic worked anything could be accurate. Maybe this would’ve happened to the baby's bile sac regardless of Luz’s trip. All that anyone knew was that this was their reality now, and for better or worse they had to deal with this. 

Then Camila felt her purse vibrate, a mechanical jingle filled the room. Camila reached in and pulled out her phone. The screen showed a picture of Luz when she was 14. She hit the green icon and brought the phone up to her ear.

“Hello?”

“WHERE IS LUZ?!”

  
  



	13. There for Her

Amity ran around the house packing things for her and Luz. Edmund was in his room getting his clothes together. She had only told him that mamá was in the human world and that the baby was coming. She couldn’t tell him what Camila had told her about the baby’s heart.

_ Our daughter!  _ Amity realized,  _ Camila said our daughter! It’s going to be a girl! _

“Mom!” Edmund called from his room. “I’ve got clothes for a few days packed. Should you bring anything to mamá?”

“What do you mean?” Amity walked in, Edmund was struggling to zip up his backpack, which looked full of books and sketch pads. His suitcase was a mess but it looked like he’d have enough to wear for at least 4 days.

“I mean,” Edmund walked over to the pile of stuffed animals he had decided he was too old to sleep with but not too old to get rid of. “What if mamá misses me, or you do, or the baby needs comfort.”

“That’d make mamá smile,” Amity said, holding back tears. Even in a crisis, Edmund would always think of anyone but himself first. “How about the otter? She loves otters.”

“But that otter isn’t always nice,” Edmund noted and reached further back. “Here, this one is always nice!”

He pulled out a…  _ what did Luz call it? A manatee I think.  _

“That’s perfect,” Amity walked over and hugged Edmund. “She’ll love it, grab your toothbrush and a hair brush now, I’ve got to finish packing.”

Edmund nodded and shoved the manatee into Amity’s arms before running off. Amity hugged the toy as hard as she could before returning to her and Luz’s room. She grabbed everything she could think of that Luz and her would need. Then opened one of her drawers and pulled out her old training wand. She hit the button and saw it was full.

“Thank the titan,” Amity said in relief. She could do magic in the human world but it was exhausting. The wand had enough magic stored to make it easy to cast basic spells and a few illusion spells to help solve things like money. It also fit into her purse far better than her staff. 

Amity did a once over before looking into the mirror they had over their dresser. Amity had one of Luz’s beanies on to hide her ears. Luz never liked it when Amity hid them, but today they didn’t need any unnecessary attention. Luz was waiting and according to Camila the delivery could happen soon. Amity nodded at her reflection and zipped up the suitcase. Now all that was left was for-

The doorbell rang and Amity breathed a sigh of relief. She was right on time, Amity grabbed the suitcase and walked into the living room.

“Edmund,” Amity shouted out for him to hear. “She’s here, get your things.”

Amity opened the door, outside it stood Willow and Maple. The 7 year old was hiding behind Willow, looking inside in fear.

“Hi Am-” Willow started but Amity bear hugged her.

“Thank you sooooo much,” Amity said as Willow hugged her back. “Eda wasn’t answering and Ed and Em are out of town.”

“Hey,” Willow let go of Amity. “What are friends for? So we’ll take Edmund tonight and then tomorrow I’ll try to get in contact with Eda. Maple’s very excited, she wouldn’t stop talking about how she wanted to show him all her pets at home.”

“Well Edmund is excited too,” Amity finally let go of Willow. “I’ve gotta get going… Edmund! Willow and Maple are here!”

Edmund walked out of the hall, struggling with his suitcase. He put it down and gave Amity a goodbye hug.

“Bye mom, tell mamá I love her. Don’t forget Hugh.”

“I won’t, we both love you so much,” Amity took in the moment, things were about to change for the Blight-Nocedas and Amity didn’t want to forget this one last perfect goodbye from Edmund. She let go of Edmund. “Now you gotta get going so I can see mamá.”

“Bye!” Edmund said as he left. Willow grabbed his suitcase for him and the three started off. Amity stood at the door and waved goodbye, the three were waving and saying goodbye themselves. Amity shut the door and looked around the empty house. She took her suitcase, the stuffed manatee and a deep breath. With that she walked through the portal to the human world.

She exited the cabin and ran towards Camila’s house. Camila said she would send a cab to pick Amity up.  _ Why did Luz have to go alone?  _ Amity asked herself as she approached the house. She was so uncomfortable in this realm, Luz made doing everything seem so natural but it was all so alien to Amity. Approaching the front of the house, Amity saw a yellow car waiting. Amity walked up to it, nervous and worried.

“Hello, are you the cab?” She asked the man sitting at the steering wheel. He looked up from his phone at her.

“Yeah,” the man eyed Amity. “You Amity Blight-Noceda?”

“Yes?”

“Well hurry up!” the driver gestured to the back seat. Amity opened the door and fumbled to get herself and the suitcase in. The driver looked at her from the rearview mirror.

“You’re not from here are you?”

“No, I’m from… Canada,” Amity knew that was a different country, hopefully one that didn’t have cabs.

“Well, your mom already gave me a destination so buckle up.”

The driver took off, Amity held onto the door for dear life. Seatbelts, luz showed her those once, how did they work again. Amity looked around, finally finding the strange strap and bringing it over herself. The metal piece went into the little clicker thing, why did humans have to make all their gadgets make cute little noises?

“So, hospital huh?” The driver asked, trying to make light chat. “What’s the occasion?”

“It’s my wife, she’s giving birth” Amity said looking out her window. The driver looked ahead in silence after that. Amity guessed he was one of those homophones Luz had said existed in her world. Finding that out took Amity by surprise, loving someone of the same gender was totally normal in the Boiling Isles. 

The humans moved so fast, their cities were massive compared to Bonesburrough. Amity could get lost in a matter of seconds here. One time she did, in a panic she sent up a massive fire spell to get Luz’s attention. Luz found her, but only after the police did since sending fireballs into the air is apparently against human law. Luz managed to get the police to let her go. She was so good at talking to total strangers and getting them to like her.

_ Luz, please just be okay,  _ Amity pleaded with herself as the cab pulled up to a large building. The words “St. Peter’s Central Hospital” was written on a sign outside of the building.  _ So this is a human hospital, it’s so much bigger than our’s.  _

“Well, have a good day,” the driver said uncomfortably and Amity struggled to get the seatbelt off.

“Thank you so much!” Amity finally got the buckle off and grabbed the suitcase and stuffed animal. She ran out of the cab and into the building. Amity approached the desk,  _ all I need to do is ask for Luz,  _ Amity reasoned,  _ should be easy enough.  _

“Hello, I’m here to see Luz.”

The receptionist looked up from her monitor and smiled.

“Is that a patient?”

“Yes, she’s my wife, she’s giving birth to our daughter right now so if you could tell me where she is that’d be helpful.”

The receptionist turned to her computer.

“What’s the patient’s first and last name?”

“Luz Blight-Noceda.”

“How do you spell Luz and Noceda?”

“L-U-Z N-O-C-E-D-A,” Amity started getting worried. The receptionist typed into the device. 

“Alright, and what’s your name?

“Amity, Amity Blight-Noceda.”

A little more typing later and the receptionist printed out a sticker for Amity.

“Wear this at all times please,” she passed her the sticker. “Your wife is one floor 3, room 325.”

“Thanks,” Amity took the sticker and towards the elevator. Waiting for it was torture, waiting inside of it for the doors to open was worse. When she finally got to the 3rd floor Amity practically sprinted down the halls counting the room numbers until.

Amity stopped in front of 325. The door was shut but she could hear Luz screaming. Amity knocked on the door, a few seconds passing before Camila opened it. She had weird blue clothes on and gloves

“La nuera, gracias a dios,” Camila peeled off her gloves and hugged Amity. Amity hugged Camila with her free arm.

“Hola,” Amity said. “How is she?”

“It’s…” Camila glanced back to the room, Luz let out another scream that reverberated down the halls. “This isn’t going to be an easy birth for either of them. We’re going to move her soon to the operating room. The moment the baby’s out they're going to have to start operating.”

“So what you said on the phone,” Amity could feel the tears coming up. “Her bile sac is really?”

Camila nodded, Amity closed her eyes and shook her head. 

“They did another check on it. It’s completely ruptured,” Camila explained, Amity fought to hold in her emotions. She hated doing it, it reminded her of being younger and having to mind her parents. But right now she needed to be there for Luz, to be strong.

“Can I go in?”

“You’ll need scrubs but yes,” Camila waved down a nurse, who brought clothes identical to Camila’s over. Amity walked into a bathroom and put them on over her clothes. She walked out, feeling uncomfortable in the new garb. Camila handed her a mask and pair of gloves. Amity put these on too and then walked into the room.

“Luz!” Amity rushed over to her. Another woman was in the room along with a young man. They were both monitoring electronic devices, Amity traced their chords, they were all connected to Luz. For all she knew about humans, she knew so little about human medicine. She was thankful Camila was here, she was probably doing more for Luz than Amity possibly could.

“Amity!” Luz reached out to Amity, she took Luz’s hand and kissed it.

“I’m here,” Amity said, smiling under her mask. “I made it!”

“Thank G-” Luz let go of Amity and gripped the side of her bed. She screamed as another contraction hit her.

“It’s time,” the woman said, turning to the man. “We’re going now, tell the surgeons.”

The man nodded and ran out of the room. The woman started doing things to Luz’s bed, soon it was able to move. Camila opened the door as the midwife pushed Luz out of the room. Amity followed, catching up so she was right by her side.

“Amity,” Luz’s grip on the bed had turned her knuckles white. “I’m scared!”

“Hey, I’m here now, we’re going to be okay.”

Luz looked at Amity, taking in her messy dark brown hair and her puffy red eyes.  _ She’s so beautiful, I’m the luckiest witch to live. _

“Edmund said he loves you. He made me bring Hugh with me, in case you missed him.”

“He’s going to be such a great big broth-” another scream interrupted Luz. “When we get back, what are we going to tell him.”

“We’ll worry about that later,” they had reached a big set of doors, the nurse from earlier was waiting outside. He stopped Camila and Amity as Luz went in.

“We’re only allowing one of you in right now.”

“Amity,” Camila said with no hesitation.

“Are you su-”

“Amity, that is your wife in there!” Camila scolded half-joking. “She needs you right now more than she needs me. Now get in there!”

Amity hugged Camila and headed into the room. A group of people in scrubs were huddled around Luz but there was room for Amity to stand right next to Luz’s head.

“With the next contraction you’re going to push,” the woman called from Luz’s legs.

“You’ve got this,” Amity encouraged Luz, who nodded.

“Alright, push!” The woman ordered Luz. All Amity could do was stand there waiting, looking at Luz, telling her how good she was doing and how proud she was of her. Is this what it was like for Luz when she had Edmund?  _ No,  _ Amity realized,  _ I have no idea what Luz is going through.  _

Amity’s focus on Luz was broken with the sounds of crying. She looked over, the woman was holding their little girl. Luz was breathing heavily.

“She’s out!” The people in scrubs began moving right away. One cut the umbilical cord while the other wiped the baby down. Amity managed to get a few looks at her daughter.

“Luz she’s…” Amity watched as the baby was put in an open plastic container and wheeled out before Luz could so much as look at her.

“Amity?” Luz asked, leaning back in the bed. “Amity what’s wrong.”

Tears welled in Amity’s eyes.

“Luz she’s perfect!” Amity said, smiling from ear to ear beneath her mask. She knelt down and put her head against Luz’s. “She’s perfect, you did it.”

“She’s…” Luz’s face broke into a smile too, but fell just as fast. “She’s not perfect.”

“No, she is,” Amity insisted, closing her . “You didn’t see her, she’s going to be okay. She’s just like her mamá, she’s going to do amazing things.”

Amity opened her eyes, Luz was softly crying, all her strength gone from the delivery.

“I failed her,” Amity hadn’t heard this side of Luz before. She heard her sad and angry before but this was different. It was like all of her life had drained out of Luz. “She’s going to struggle because I was selfish.”

“There was nothing selfish about wanting to see your mom,” Amity’s voice softened, thinking about her own parents. They would find out about this soon enough and invite Amity and Edmund over so they could see their grandchildren for the 1st time. The invitation wouldn’t include Luz though. When Amity would reach out and say that Luz would need to be there too they would answer “no” and that would be that. They could be so cruel but Amity would still miss them.

“We’re going to bring you back to your room now,” the nurse said cautiously, hating to break up their conversation. “We’ll keep you posted on the surgery. After it’s done you can see her in the NCU unit, but it won’t be safe to hold her for a little while.”

“Thank you,” Amity stood up as the nurse started moving Luz’s bed.

“This may not be what you want to hear, but she looked very well for being two months early.”

“Hear that Luz,” Amity held Luz’s hand as they returned to their room. “I’m not the only one who thinks that she’s a looker.”

“I heard,” Luz smiled at Amity, but Amity could tell it was fake.

Camila was waiting outside the room for them.

“How is she?”

“The delivery went as smoothly as we could hope,” The nurse explained. “They’re operating now. Once the surgeon is finished she’ll come talk to you. In the meantime we’ll start Luz on a Oxycotin drip to help with the pain. If there’s anything you need just hit the button.”

The nurse hooked up a bag with liquids to tubes that lead to Luz’s arm. Amity followed as the liquid made its way to Luz. Right away her breathing started to relax. Once he made sure everything was going okay, the nurse left the family alone.

“Mija, I am so proud of you,” Camila said, but Luz was looking out of the room’s window.

“Gracias mamá,” Luz replied. Amity sat down next to her, stroking Luz’s hair as the tired human fell asleep.

  
  



	14. Just for Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dear readers, hope your week has been going well. I just want to thank you all for sticking around with me for so long. You've been super supportive of this story and it's been really humbling to see. I hope I don't disappoint you with the second half of this fanfic. I'm already working on a bunch of ideas not just for a sequel work to this but for another The Owl House themed fanfic. I have no idea how long I'll be working on both, but I'll try to start posting each before the new year starts. Take care and I'll be back on Sunday with more.

Luz woke up a few hours later, her head still in a haze but feeling better. She opened her eyes and looked out the window. It was sunset, the city was bathed in warm orange hues. Luz pushed herself up, falling forward into an upright position. She looked to her right, Amity sat in the chair next to her, she had dozed off, but her hand was right next to where Luz’s head had been. A smile crept on Luz’s face at the sight of her sleeping wife.

_ She didn’t leave _ , Luz thought,  _ I thought she would have gone to look at… _

Luz’s smile vanished, their daughter was somewhere in the building. Luz didn’t even know where her daughter was. Amity stirred and looked up at Luz, smiling.

“Hey there mamá,” Amity said, stretching in the uncomfortable chair. “How’d you-”

“Where is she?” Luz asked, moving so she could stand up.

“Easy,” Amity leapt up and over to Luz, who tried to stand up but couldn’t. “Everything’s okay, the doctor said she is stable now. Camila’s been keeping an eye on her. Luz, I meant it, she’s beautiful like her mamá.”

“I need to see her,” Luz didn’t hear half of what Amity said. All of her instincts were screaming at Luz to go to her baby.

“Okay, let me get you a wheelchair though,” Amity helped Luz back onto the bed then left the room. Luz hated feeling this helpless. The last few hours all she had done was rely on everyone else. She didn’t mind getting help but this, this was something else. This was her being completely powerless for the most important moment of her life. She had completely failed her daughter right before she came into the world. 

“Here we are,” Amity came back in the room with a wheelchair. “Your chariot awaits!”

“Amity,” Luz stared out the window. “Do you still love me?”

“How could you ask that?” Amity brought the chair over to Luz. “Of course I do.”

“What I did,” Luz started crying. “This will affect our daughter for the rest of her life! She’ll be different from everyone home. She’s going to struggle just to be their equal. She’s-”

“Exactly like her mamá,” Amity knelt down to be at Luz’s eye level. “She’s going to be braver than everyone around her. She’ll have the biggest heart and care more than anyone. If she can’t do magic the way everyone else can, she’ll learn to do it on her own. Most importantly she’s going to have us to support her, that will never be in question.”

Amity reached up and wiped the tears off Luz’s face. A nurse came in with some clean gowns for Luz and helped move things around so she could be wheeled around with her I.V. After changing, Luz and Amity were off. Amity looked amazed at how many people were there. Even Luz had forgotten that hospitals could be this big. Eventually they found Camila, who was looking through a window into a room. 

“Hey mamá,” Luz said weakly, Camila turned around, facing her with the same expression she had Luz had returned from the Boiling Isles for the first time.

“Hey,” Camila walked over and wrapped Luz up in a light but encompassing hug. “You did a great job mija. Mi nieta es sana y hermosa.”

“I want to see her,” Luz said, lightly pushing Camila’s arms off her. Camila’s face fell for a split second, before her smile returned and she nodded.

“Okay,” Camila returned to the glass, pointing at a baby Luz couldn’t see yet.. “She’s right ahead of me. It’s… a little shocking at first.”

“What do you-”

“She’s okay,” Camila quickly fixed her phrasing. “They’ve just got her connected to a lot of things. She’s also pretty small, but she’s doing good. You should have seen her cry earlier. They gave her a bottle but she wouldn’t drink it. She’s waiting for you mija, I’ll ask the doctor if you can go in.”

Camila headed off looking for the doctor on duty. Amity pushed Luz up to the window, but Luz was already standing before they got to it. She looked to where Camila had pointed. The first thing she noticed were the machines. There were so many, each displaying something Luz couldn’t understand. Tubes and chords ran everywhere, reminding Luz of the throne of Emperor Belos. 

Luz’s eyes slowly moved down, she was afraid of what she’d see. She new premature babies could look malnourished and weak. Was that what awaited? Would she still be breathing in the next few hours? Would she just get this one look and just to lose her daughter forever?

Then Luz saw her and time stopped. Her skin was still pinkish but Luz could tell it would be light brown like Edmund’s. Her ears pointed just like the doctor said. Seeing her daughter’s face was like looking at one of her old baby photos Camila had. Luz wanted to shatter the glass and run in. Hold her and feel her heartbeat, listen to her breath, be the first thing the baby saw when it opened its eyes.

“Luz?” Amity reached over and wiped a tear from Luz’s eyes.

“She’s there,” Luz said, her voice distant but not like before. It sounded like she had witnessed a miracle.

“Yeah she is,” Amity put her arm around Luz’s shoulder. The two stood there, watching their sleeping daughter for minutes. Then Camila came back with Dr. Marcus.

“Hello Luz,” Dr. Marcus turned to look into the room as he approached. “I’m very happy to say the surgery was a complete success. They removed the tumor and closed off the areas connecting it to the heart. Weirdest tumor I’ve ever seen, was more like an organ, completely benign so there’s no need to worry about additional treatments for it.”

“When can I be with her?” Luz asked the only thing she had thought of since she woke up.

“Right now if you’d like,” the doctor pulled out a mask and gloves for himself. “Can’t be for too long but she’s stable enough to be held. I’ll be wearing these for protection but your baby needs to recognize your touch. Will you want a bottle or-”

“I’ll feed her,” Luz tried to walk to the door but still wasn’t up for that. Thankfully Amity was still holding onto her and lowered Luz into the wheelchair.

“Is it okay if I go in too?” Amity asked.

“Of course,” Dr. Marcus said with a twinkle in his eyes. He walked over to the door and waved a key card in front of it. A click sounded and he opened it. Amity pushed Luz in, slowly approaching the little plastic cradle with a mattress and blankets comforting the baby. Dr. Marcus walked past them and carefully picked up their daughter.

“Be very careful,” he cautioned as he lowered her down to Luz. “Her stitches are fresh and we don’t want any tearing.”

He handed him to Luz, who was holding out her arms like she was about to receive a gift. The moment she could feel the blankets on her skin Luz knew she’d probably start crying again. When she fully had her in her arms Luz knew she was crying again. 

“I’ll be right outside, here’s this for privacy,” the doctor handed Luz a feeding blanket and walked out of the room, closing the curtains before he left.

Luz closed her eyes and let everything sink in. Amity got on her knees and put her head against Luz’s shoulder. The three of them, together for the first time, felt like a dream to Luz. She was content to just stay there forever. The baby had other ideas, as she started squirming in Luz’s arms.

“You must be hungry,” Luz said, her voice returning to its old self. 

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Amity asked softly, also lost in the moment.

“Yeah, I think I am,” Luz said and got ready to feed her daughter. 

As they sat there, Luz remembered an old lullaby her mother used to sing. This comforting song, for those scary times when there were monsters in the closet or thunderstorms but the words escaped Luz. She started humming it, then sounding out the melody with simple la-la-las taking the place of lyrics. Then the words came flooding back. Amity was silent next to her, listening to Luz’s voice fill the room with the kind of magic she never needed to be taught on the Isles. The baby stopped eating and Luz carefully moved her to her shoulder so she could burp.

“You’ve never sang that one before,” Amity said dreamily from Luz’s shoulder.

“I had forgotten it, it was something mamá sang when I was scared. This was the scariest day of my life, I needed it today.”

“We have to name her still,” Amity moved off Luz’s shoulder as Luz returned the baby close to her chest. 

“Yeah…” Luz stared at their daughter, it’s eyes almost opening but never quite fully committing. “Carmen, Carmen Blight-Noceda.”

“Carmen,” Amity said the name, letting it roll off the tongue. “I love it.”

“Me too,” Luz sighed. “You know, we’re going to have to explain a lot soon and there’s no explanations for it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, my medical records stop after 2020 and you don’t technically exist,” Luz said smiling at Carmen.”

“Well, maybe we just never were here?”

“That would require some kind of magic.”

Amity leaned over and kissed Luz on the cheek.

“We’ll stay until they’re sure Carmen’s okay, I’ll need my staff for this but not today. Today is just for us.

“No,” Luz’s attention was focused on Carmen. “Today is just for her.”

Sure enough, Luz proved herself right when questions started being raised as to who Amity was. Why did Luz stop having any records after highschool, and how did she go from a C average to an entirely A+ student after one year of camp? The question the hospital was worried about most was how were two women, one of whom didn’t exist in any official record, supposed to pay their rising medical bill. Luckily the hospital didn’t kick them out. When they were dismissed, Amity was ready with a powerful memory erasure spell. Suddenly there was no record of any of it.

They brought Carmen home, she had fallen in love with Hugh. They left it for her after the first night and she only let it go for Luz, Amity or Camila. As much as Carmen loved the stuffed animal, Edmund loved Carmen more. When Luz handed Carmen to him for the first time, his face just lit up. Then Edmund asked the question they were dreading.

“What’s this scar from?”

Luz knew it was coming, but she didn’t know what to say.

“Well, Edmund,” Luz started, already hating what she was going to say. “There was an accident, and the doctors had to take out her bile sac.”

“They…” Edmund tried to process this. “So she can’t do magic?”

“She can,” Luz looked at Carmen with sadness. “Just like how mamá does it. She’ll need glyphs to cast spells. She’ll also need her big brother to show her how and to look after her.”

“Okay,” Edmund declared for everyone in the room to hear. “I’ll be the best big brother that ever lived!”

They took her to healers, who kept her heart working but they all agreed, there was no way to transplant or recover the bile sac. It was gone forever, and no one could do anything about it. Luz knew this would be the case from the get go, but it wore on her more than Amity. Luz was still bubbly and energetic, but she felt restrained by her guilt. Carmen was alive, she was amazing, she was perfect, but something had broken in Luz that day. The guilt of taking away that thing from Carmen would stay with Luz for forever.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Eda knows about what happened, so do Edric, Emira, Willow and Guz,” Luz finished off the story. Carmen was still on her lap, eyes full of questions. Edmund was silent on the floor, his face emotionless. “I should have told you both this long ago. We don’t know if it was me going to the human world or if it was always going to happen that day. I just always felt like it was my fault.”

Luz started crying again, Carmen hugged her. Amity put her hand on Luz’s shoulder.

“I’m going out.”

Everyone looked up at Edmund, who stood up and walked to the door.

“Edmund wait,” Luz stood up but he was already heading out the door, closing it behind him. Luz opened it up and went after him in her bare feet. “Edmund, please come back inside and talk to us.”

“Why, so you can reveal some other family secret you kept hidden?” Edmund asked angrily.

“No, so I can apologize!” Luz retorted, Edmund stopped walking away. “I’ve blamed myself for six years over what happened. So if you’re mad then I deserve it but know that however mad you might be at me I am a thousand times more mad at myself.”

Edmund didn’t respond, and after a minute he kept walking away. Luz had no choice but to let him go. She went back inside, expecting silence, and instead got Carmen running into her near full speed for a hug.

“I’M SO GLAD I DIDN’T DIE!” Carmen shouted while crying. “I’M SO SORRY mamá!”

“Carmen this wasn’t your fault,” Luz started laughing and crouched down to hug Carmen back. “This will never be your fault okay?”

“Okay,” Carmen let go of Luz. “How come I don’t have a scar anymore?”

“The healers on the Boiling Isles took care of that,” Amity got off the couch and walked over. “They also healed your heart perfectly, it won’t have any troubles for a long time.”

“Good,” Carmen put her hands over her heart. “How come Edmund left?”

“He’s,” Luz looked at Amity, whose face was downcast at the mention of their son. “He needs time to think about this. I should have told him much sooner but I was scared to.”

“We should get dinner ready,” Amity chimed in, looking at the door as if the mention of dinner would bring Edmund back. “It’s still light out and he’s got his scroll on him. If he’s not back by dark…”

“He’ll be back,” Luz affirmed. “Or he’ll go to the Owl House, Eda won’t say no to him staying over.”

“You’re probably right,” Amity moved her gaze from the door to the kitchen. “What are you thinking for dinner? I can make spaghetti and screamballs or meatloaf surprise or-”

“Why don’t I make supper!” Luz said, far more scared of what Amity would do to the food than of Edmund not coming back. “We didn’t get to do taco tuesday this week, how about that?”

“Tacos!” Carmen raced into the kitchen. “I’ll shred the cheese!”

“I know what you're doing,” Amity crossed her arms and glared at Luz. “You said last time I made meatloaf surprise you loved it.”

“What?” Luz moved into the kitchen, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “I just want tacos, can’t a girl want tacos once a week?”

“I’ve been trying to get better at cooking,” Amity said following Luz. “So the taste isn’t always what I want, at least it’s cooked all the way through now.”

“Is that what you call improvement?” Luz asked, spinning around to look at Amity then back to the kitchen. “Because I think that just meets the bare minimum.”

“Hey mamá?” Carmen asked, carrying various blocks of cheese to the table. “What happened to Hugh?”

“Hmmmm” Luz had to think, what did happen to that manatee. “I think Edmund let you keep it. I’m not sure where he is now.”

“I do,” Amity smiled as she walked up to Luz. “It’s in storage, why Carmen?”

“Tomorrow is show and tell, I want to bring him.”

“We’ll look for Hugh after dinner okay?” Luz smiled.

“Oh! I need to call healer Maggie, let her know what happened,” Amity turned around and went back to the living room. 

“Oh yeah, how did that go?” Luz called as she pulled out the toppings for the tacos.

“Good, actually,” Amity responded from the living room. “You should go next time, we can bring Carmen or I can stay with her.”

“I…” Luz didn’t know what to say. She wanted to be there for Edmund but would he even want her there? She knew she wouldn’t be in the room for his session but Maggie would see how tense they were around each other. Would Maggie put all the blame on her for all of Edmund’s mistakes? Luz certainly did at times, so it made sense. 

“Trust me, you’ll like her, she reminds me of-,” Amity started but stopped for some reason. Luz walked into the living room. Amity was staring at her scroll, looking at it in anger.

“Everything okay Amity?” Luz asked, Amity nodded and turned to look at Luz.

“Yeah, just a junk call, it’s okay,” Amity scrolled past whatever she was looking at. “I was just saying she reminds me of Camila, in her patience and mannerisms it reminded me of how she acted at the hospital, you’ll really like her Luz.

“Okay, if Edmund is okay with it I’ll go next time. “Luz felt a tugging on her shirt and looked down.

“I finished shredding the cheese,” Carmen beamed, Luz looked over at the table at the two bowls overflowing with cheese.

“You sure did,” Luz laughed, forgetting just how much supervision kids needed sometimes. “Once mom is done talking with Maggie why don’t you ask her to help with your runes homework?”

Carmen nodded and left Luz.

_ We’re okay,  _ Luz thought to herself as she worked,  _ Carmen and I are okay. She doesn’t hate me, maybe she will one day but not today. Edmund’s going to be okay too.  _

Luz looked to her wife and sighed.

_ If only I could do something about Amity’s cooking. _


	15. An Unexpected Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. Had a busier weekend thanks to work and school. Two chapters as promised last week. Wednesday I'll get another two for you to make up for these getting out late. I've got a lot of stuff I'm working on and I can't wait to share more info on all of that later.

Edmund wandered Bonesborough with no destination in mind other than to get away. He couldn’t pin down exactly what he was getting away from. Luz was the first thing that came to mind but it wasn’t entirely her. He was also mad at Amity, she withheld the truth just as much as Luz. Carmen, no, not her, she was the victim in all this. He was mad at himself, he should be home with Carmen. Who knows how she’s feeling about all this?

_ Stupid Edmund,  _ he thought hitting himself on the forhead,  _ why did you just bail on her? She needs you and just left because you’re upset. I should… _

Edmund stopped, he honestly didn’t know what he should do. He wanted to punch something, he wanted to cry, he wanted to go back in time and stop Luz from leaving. It felt like the entire fabric of reality had unwound around Edmund. Everything Edmund had thought he knew about his mothers was wrong. 

Edmund felt his scroll vibrate in his pocket. He ignored it, figuring it was probably Luz or Amity asking where he was. Looking around Edmund realized he didn’t know where he was. Not that Bonesborough was a big city but rather he hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going. It looked familiar enough, almost like Edmund had been here a few times.

_ Why is this area so familiar?  _ Edmund asked himself, struggling to recall faded memories. He must have been six or seven the last time he was here. Images of his moms taking him somewhere on this street, holding his hands and swinging him between them. Where were they going? 

“Edmund?”

Edmund stopped and looked towards the familiar voice.  _ That’s right,  _ Edmund remembered,  _ this is Willow’s neighborhood.  _ The witch was currently working in her yard, which was really more of a garden. Hundreds of plants, flowers, bushes, everything you could imagine was growing in the modest yard. Behind it, covered in ivy, was a three story house. Every window had a planter hanging from it, except one on the third floor.

“What brings you to this part of the town?” Willow asked as she walked over from the magical plant in front of her. She had the usual warm and friendly smile she always had, but there was worry behind it. Willow was Luz’s best friend, mom not counting, and had probably heard about Edmund’s behavioral issues frequently.

“Nothing,” Edmund said, trying to sound casual. He met Willow halfway. “Just passing through, on my way to study. At the library. With Friends.”

Willow raised an eyebrow and grinned. “You know the library is on the other side of town right? And as far as I know Maple is your only friend. Please tell me that you’re not usually this bad at lying.”

“Not usually,” Edmund grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. “I was caught off guard. I forgot that you guys lived here and I was…”

Edmund trailed off, not really wanting to get into things with Willow. He liked her, but he wasn’t sure if she would be the best person to talk to. Odds were that she would tell Luz pretty much anything he told her. From above them, the third floor window opened up and Maple stuck her head out, she had a bathrobe on and a towel wrapped around her hair.

“MOM, WHAT’S FOR DINNER?”

“I DON’T KNOW,” Willow shouted back, sounding more than a little annoyed. “ASK YOUR DAD!”

“”HE’S NOT MY-” Maple noticed Edmund, who was currently looking at one of the flowers in Willow’s garden, hoping his face wasn’t turning red. He looked back up at Maple, whose face had turned bright red. Their eyes meet for a split second.

“...AHHHHHHH” Maple slammed her window shut. Willow slowly looked from it to Edmund, who was pretty sure his face was now very red.

“Well now,” Willow’s smile looked strained, Edmund thought. “That’s Maple for you, never looking before she leaps.”

“Really,” Edmund smiled back, certain Willow saw both their reactions to each other. “I hadn’t noticed before.”

Willow giggled, Edmund sighed knowing that Willow at least had a sense of humor.

“That’s exactly what Luz would say,” Edmund’s smile dropped a little but Willow didn’t notice. “Well, if you’re not going to the library would you like to have dinner with us?”

“I couldn’t,” Edmund held up his hands and started walking away. Willow raised a finger and made a small green circle in the air. Edmund’s way out was blocked by foliage.

“I insist,” Willow said, turning to head inside. “You should let your parents know where you are though. Since your plans to go to the library fell through.”

“I… okay, I’ll just call them quick.”

Willow gave Edmund a smug look and headed inside. Edmund pulled out his scroll and opened it up. The page was littered with dozens of messages from Luz and Amity. He ignored them, he didn’t want to see their text lectures right now. He dialed in their home number and called. It rang for a few seconds before someone picked up.

“Hello?” Carmen’s voice sounded into Edmund’s ear.

“Hey Carmen,” Edmund’s voice lifted, she sounded okay so that was a good sign. “How are you?”

“Good, we’re eating tacos!”

_ Dang it,  _ Edmund silently complained,  _ I love taco night! _

“That’s great, listen, tell mom I’m going to eat with Willow tonight.”

“Okay,” Carmen’s voice got really quiet. “Are you angry with mamá?”

“A little,” Edmund answered, his own voice quieting. “It’s complicated, okay?”

“Are you going to stay with Willow for a while?”

“What?” Edmund had no idea where Carmen got that idea. “Why would you ask that?”

“Because I heard mamá say you got in a fight, but Maple protected you. She must really like-”

“I’ll be home tonight before you go to bed, okay!” Edmund practically shouted into the scroll. Doing anything to prevent Carmen from finishing her sentence. “I love you and tell Mom I love her too!”

“I’ll tell mamá too, even though you’re mad at her right now.”

“...yeah, tell mamá I love her too.” Edmund ended the call and walked to the door. Carmen was right, he did still love mamá. He opened the door and entered the house. It smelled like lilacs, lavender, and fresh mulch. The living room was much narrower than the one at Edmund’s house, but still seemed big enough to fit all three of the Parks. A bookshelf stood at one end of the room. Edmund walked over to inspect it. 

“Go ahead and make yourself at home,” Willow called from the kitchen.

“We’re having casserole,” Phineas walked out, heading over to Edmund.

“Cool,” Edmund said, focusing on the shelf. In front of the books were several photos. Willow, Luz, Amity and Gus graduating together. Willow, in bridesmaids’ outfit, smiling next to Luz in a black tux and white dress. Willow holding a newborn Maple. Maple standing outside for her first day of school. Willow and Phineas holding hands at their wedding, Maple standing to their side, forcing a smile.

“You know,” Phineas was looking at the photo of Maple. “I’m glad she finally made a friend.”

“Who, Maple?” Edmund turned his attention to the yellow witch. 

“Yeah,” a smile formed on his large mouth. “She’s someone who doesn’t like change. Which is probably why she still doesn’t like me.”

“It’s not like we didn’t know each other though.”

“True, but you guys really haven’t seen each other since, what, probably our wedding?”

“I guess,” Edmund shrugged as he heard footsteps coming from above him.

“Mom, is supper almost done?” Maple asked as she came down the stairs. “I need help with my spelling and-”

She froze as she reached the bottom of the stairs and looked in the living room for Willow. Edmund awkwardly brought up his hand to wave as an equally awkward smile spread across his face. Thankfully Maple was dressed, wearing an orange long sleeve shirt and black sweatpants. Her hair was still wet, but Edmund liked the way it looked. 

“Hey Maple,” Edmund said, keenly aware that Maple was probably not super happy to see him. “Your mom invited me to dinner.”

“Oh,” Maple said, her brain probably somewhere far away. “Hi, what’s for dinner?”

“Oh Maple,” Phineas walked over and hugged Maple, who just stared at Edmund. “It’s casserole, why don’t you chat with Edmund while your mother and I set the table.

“Ok Phineas…” Maple barely noticed him leave and head into the dinning room.

“Soooooooo…” Edmund walked away from the bookshelf and sat on the couch. “How are you?”

“FINE!” Maple exclaimed and also moved to the couch. She sat down with a thud and stared ahead of her. Edmund followed her example, looking at the shuttered windows. The two sat in silence for a good five minutes.

“Ummm,” Willow poked her head out and looked at the two. “Supper is almost done, if you want to come out.”

Maple sat there petrified, so Edmund gave Willow a thumbs up. Willow nodded as she returned to the dining room, very concerned about her daughter’s well being. Edmund looked at Maple and waved his hand in front of her.

“Hey,” Edmund said, Maple snapping back to reality. “Look, I am so sorry about-”

“What are you apologizing for?!” Maple brought her knees up to her head and buried her face in them. “I was the one who decided to announce to the world that I just hopped out of the shower.”

“Yeah well,” Edmund didn’t really have a retort to that. “I wasn’t supposed to be here. I was just running away after-”

“Did your counseling thing go that badly?” Maple’s head tilted to look at Edmund. 

“No, that was great,” Edmund said reassuringly. “I- I’ll tell you after dinner.”

Edmund stood up, offering Maple his hand to help her stand up. She accepted it, but let go the moment she stood up and realized she was still holding it.

“What exactly is in this casserole?” Edmund asked as they entered the dining room.

“You know,” Maple put a finger to her cheek. “I honestly don’t know and I’ve been eating it for years now.”

It turns out that whatever it was wasn't half bad. At the very least it was edible which was about what Edmund hoped for from a dish simply called casserole. 

“So Edmund,” Phineas decided to start the conversation as he was the first to finish. “You’re in the 9th grade now?”

“Yeah,” Edmund really hoped that Phineas wouldn’t ask too much about school. Something about being the most hated person by teachers and about 50% of the student body wouldn’t really send them the message that Edmund should hang out with their daughter.

“That’s good, taking multiple tracks or focusing on one?”

“Abomination and Oracle.”

“Get out!” Phineas exclaimed excitedly. “I did the Oracle track myself, what’s your concentration? Reading palms, fortune telling, spirit summoning?

“Spectres mostly,” Edmund took another bite of food after he answered.

“I see,” Phineas nodded his head. “Personally, I like using crystal balls. You can still summon some amazing stuff but you also get a wider vision of the future.”

“But knowing too much about the future doesn’t guarantee you any of it will happen,” Edmund countered, starting to get fired up with someone to talk to about this. “Seeing the whole picture means you lose sight of the strokes.”

“But focus too much on the little details and your end goal becomes too abstract.”

“From my own experience, short term vision has gotten me out of trouble way more.”

“Do you find yourself in trouble oft-”

“Phineas!” Maple interrupted slamming her fork on the table.

“Maple!” Willow gave Maple an angry look. “That is no way to talk to your father.”

“He’s not my father,” Maple grumbled. Edmund turned his attention to his food. This was getting way too similar to dinner at his house. Arguing with Luz and Amity was never fun but Edmund had just come to expect it most meals. It felt, weird, to not be part of the argument. 

_ Must be how Carmen feels,  _ Edmund thought as he took another bite,  _ I should try to stop doing that at dinner. _

“You’re also studying Abominations right Edmund?” Willow smiled at Edmund, but he could tell she wasn’t really too interested.

“Yeah,” Edmund said after swallowing. “It’s okay, it’s not like I’m new to abominations or anything.”

“Did Amity teach you about them?”

“Sort of, I watched her work a lot with Luz to get Abomination glyphs down. I just kind of picked up how to do both from that.”

“Well that’s impressive,” Phineas still sounded optimistic, but he was glancing between Willow and Maple. Maple was looking at her plate, picking at her food. Willow was still smiling but it was one of the most forced smiles Edmund had seen. There was a palpable tension and Edmund could feel it rising. He took one last bite of food and put down his fork.

“Well, this was delicious,” Edmund said, flexing his fingers and pushing out his chair. “But I should probably get going.”

“Wait!” Maple dropped her fork onto her plate and looked straight at Edmund, only to look back down. “I mean… you only just got here. Why rush off?”

“Maple,” Willow started, her face smiling compassionately. “Edmund should get going, his parents-”

“Why not let him stay,” Phineas interjected. “Maple said she needed help with her homework. A smart boy like Edmund should be more than up to help.”

“I don’t know…” Willow started, looking at her watch. “It’ll be dark soon…”

Edmund looked at Maple, who was giving him a  _ please stay  _ look. Edmund thought it over for just a second. Honestly, after seeing Maple struggle to talk to her own parents, talking to her about today seemed okay.

“I’ll be fine getting home later,” Edmund said, nodding to Maple before looking at Willow and Phineas. “If it’s okay wit-”

“It’ll be fine,” Maple said, shooting out from her chair. “I’m going to quickly clean my room!”

“Maple!” Willow called after her but Maple was already a floor above them. She then turned to Edmund. “It’s okay if you have to leave.”

“Really it’s okay,” Edmund said standing up. “Where should I bring my plate?”

“Just leave it,” Phineas said, reaching out to hold Willow’s hand. He smiled at her, leading to Willow sighing and smiling back.

“Yeah, thanks Edmund,” Willow said. “I’m glad she finally has someone to talk to.

“Me too,” Edmund said, before heading up the stairs after Maple. Honestly, he kind of hoped that they would focus on her homework. This was going to be the first time in years he actually tried to hold a conversation with someone his age.

  
  



	16. Of Pets and Parents

Maple hurriedly shoved everything in her room into drawers, her closet and under her bed. She didn’t like leaving her room so messy, but somehow it always seemed to end up that way. A rattle from a cage next to her bed drew Maple’s attention. A little fluffy mouse-like creature was pushing its food bowl against the wall.

“You hungry Salazar?” Maple finished shoving things under her bed. She went over to a tank containing several fish. She reached into it with a net and drew one out. Walking back to Salazar, she opened the door.

“Alright buddy, let’s try this one more time.” Maple held up the fish high above the creature’s head. “Give me a nice big jump!”

The creature scrunched up, eying the fish greedily.  _ This is it!  _ Maple thought with anticipation,  _ this time he’s finally going to be able to jump!  _ Salazar's front legs pushed up, then his back legs started to explode out from under him. It would have been an excellent jump, except the moment his back legs left the ground he started to flip. Salazar flopped onto his back, squeaking indignantly. He reset his position but again ended up on his back. Maple sighed.

“Still not all there yet huh?” Maple reached in the cage and picked up the now sulking creature. She handed it the fish, which it shoveled into its mouth. There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Maple said as she let Salazar run up her arm. He nestled into her shoulder

Edmund stepped into the room. He glanced around, looking a little uncomfortable.

“So, this is your room?”

“Yeah,” Maple said, Salazar rubbed his head on her shoulder. “It’s not much.”

“Who’s that?” Edmund asked, looking at her shoulder.

“Salazar.” Maple carefully grabbed the little fluff ball off her shoulder. “He’s a chimichilla I found over the summer.”

Maple held the creature in front of Edmund, who carefully stretched out his fingers to pet him. Salazar eyed Edmund carefully, but once he started getting pet he relaxed.

“I found him in a snare trap,” Maple said sadly. “They’re great jumpers, but the snare broke his legs. He’s still not able to jump but we’re making progress.”

“That’s really cool.” Edmund stopped petting Salazar and smiled at Maple. “Do you do this kind of thing often?”

“All the time,” Maple walked back over to the cage and put Salazar into it. “Mom put a one pet at a time restriction on me.”

“Seems like you guys have the space for more than one,” Edmund said as he looked at the fish in the bowl.”

“Phineas has allergies,” Maple said glumly. “So, of course, we have to make sure he’s okay.”

“Oh,” Edmund looked at Maple, who was standing in front of the cage petting the chimichilla. “Want to get started on that home-”

“What are you doing here?” Maple asked, sounding a lot harsher than she meant. “Sorry, not that I don’t like seeing you. I really like that. As a friend! What I mean is…”

“You’re worried about me,” Edmund smiled as Maple turned red. 

“Yeah, you said counseling went well but here you are. Did something happen after counseling? Was it because of what happened during lunch?”

“No, that wasn’t it at all. I mean that probably didn’t help but that was not the cause,” Edmund stared ahead of him. “You remember when I spent the night with you guys?”

“You mean when we were kids?” Maple shut the cage door and turned to look at Edmund. 

“Yeah, when mom had to rush off because Carmen was being born in the human world.”

“I think so,” Maple walked over to her bed and sat down on it. “Man, I was like 6 or 7 when that happened. I don’t really remember much except...” 

Memories of overeating junk food with Edmund all night and throwing up came flooding back. She still couldn’t eat cheese puffs without getting nauseous. Heck, just thinking about those disgusting styrofoam balls made her feel queasy.

“Hey, are you okay?” Edmund asked, pulling out Maple’s desk chair to sit on. 

“Yep,” Maple pushed the thought of fake cheese dust out of her head. “Did something happen when you were here? Was it something I did? Did you also throw up from eating cheese puffs?”

“No I....” Edmund looked confused, before he burst out laughing. “Oh my gosh I forgot about that! You had like 200 cheese puffs than you totally-”

“Hey!” Maple picked up her pillow and threw it at Edmund. “You don’t get to laugh about that!”

“Of course I do,” Edmund caught the pillow, still laughing like a madman. “It wasn’t funny back then but now it’s hilarious.”

“Fine,” Maple said, defeated. “I threw up, which is funny. Ha ha. My question is whether or not you threw up too??”

“Titan no,” Edmund tossed Maple her pillow back. He had finally gotten control of his laughter. “I had a blast hanging out with you and Willow.”

“So what happened, why do I need to remember that night?”

“It’s not that night specifically,” Edmunds' face turned from a smile to a frown faster than Maple could see. “It’s about my moms.”

“What do you mean?” Maple tried to see where Edmund was going with this but couldn’t.

“They lied about Carmen,” Edmund put his head in his hands and stared at the floor. “Right from when I first saw her they just… lied to me. They lied to her.”

“Lied about what? I'm sorry but I don’t really know a lot about your sister.”

“Did you know she can’t do magic?”

“I…” Maple scrambled her memory. She knew Edmund had a little sister but nothing specific. “Maybe, I’m sorry Edmund but most of the time I spent with your family I was kind of focused on… other things. How long have you guys known she couldn’t?”

“They knew since that day,” Edmund looked like he might start crying. “Mamá went to visit my abuela in the human world that day. Apparently not being in the Boiling Isles caused Carmen’s bile sac to go haywire and it ruptured.”

“That’s… horrible.”

“I knew she couldn’t do magic but they never went into details. I always thought that Carmen was just born like that. She’s the most important person in my life and I’d do anything for her. At first I thought mamá was happy to have Carmen, but over time I noticed how she looked when she started teaching Carmen glyphs. These looks I… I couldn’t tell what they were but they weren’t happy. I started thinking about it, how much she wanted Carmen to be able to do magic. Then I thought I figured it out, she was disappointed in Carmen.”

“Woah,” Maple was staring at Edmund as he talked.

“I didn’t want her to grow up with that,” Edmund continued, looking up at Maple. “So I decided to do something. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t Carmen be the worst thing about mamá’s life.”

“I don’t get it,” Maple tried to work out what that meant. How could Edmund be a disappointment? Then her eyes widened as she realized what he meant “Wait, you’ve been getting into trouble because of your sister?” 

“Not because of, for. I thought if I could shift those looks of disappointment from Carmen to me, then mamá wouldn’t care that Carmen couldn’t do magic. She’d just be happy that Carmen was a good kid who did her best and worked harder than anyone else. Meanwhile I’d be the kid who ruined classes. The kid who was in fights and never lost. The loner who wound up selling human relics with the Owl Lady. For a while things did go the way I thought they would. Mamá stopped looking at Carmen with that stupid face and started looking at me with it.”

“That’s… a lot to take in,” Edmund looked away from Maple, who was trying to figure out what she could say to help him. “I always wondered why you suddenly became this notorious figure at school.”

“Guess that means my plan worked,” Edmund smiled but Maple could tell it wasn’t genuine, it was just him trying to hide his real emotions. 

“Well what about today? What does finding out Luz and Amity knew all along change the things you did?”

“Because it was never Carmen’s fault,” Edmund wasn’t frowning but he definitely wasn’t smiling anymore. “It was mamá’s, all this time I thought she was disappointed in Carmen and it turns out, that wasn’t the case. She was disappointed in herself. She was the one that made the mistake that cost Carmen her bile sac.”

Silence weighed in the room as both of them sat processing. Maple didn’t know what to say. She wanted to tell Edmund that this whole thing wasn’t his fault. Or that there was no way Luz could’ve known what Edmund was thinking. There was so much that Maple didn’t know about Edmund. Sure she knew stuff about him when they were kids but it had been a good few years since then. So much had changed for both of them.

“I think it’s cool that at least Luz told you,” Maple said after a good while of silence. “That couldn’t have been easy for her.”

“But why not tell us sooner?” Edmund asked, running his hands through his hair. “I get not telling Carmen, she’s so young but I could’ve handled it.”

“Why didn’t you ask her?”

“I thought Carmen never had a bile sac to begin with. I couldn’t have known she had one but then lost it because the human world doesn’t have magic.”

“Yeah,” Maple looked at Edmund, whose face was pretty unreadable. “I’m sorry, this sucks.”

“You said it,” Edmund’s face cracking into a smile. “You know what? No one else knows I made that stupid promise.”

“Really?” Maple felt heat rising to her face. “Wh… why tell me?”

“Honestly I think I came here hoping to speak with you,” Edmund was looking away from Maple, whose face was probably very red at the moment. “You’re the only person around my age who actually talks to me. You didn’t leave when I was a total jerk to you. You like me for who I am, not who I was or because you’re family. It just feels, I don’t know, right to talk to you.”

Edmund’s gaze finally made its way to Maple, who felt like she might die at any moment. Hearing him say all that stuff about her was the nicest thing anyone except Mom had ever told Maple. She liked being alone but being with Edmund felt so right. Even if she was the only one talking, it was nice to be talking to someone. Maple smiled and looked down as her hands pulled at the loose blankets on her bed.

“I think you’re pretty awesome too,” Maple said. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know,” Edmund let out a chuckle. “I’ll go home tonight, figure out what’s next later.”

“Will you still go to counseling?”

“I think so, honestly I think that’s going to be way more important now.”

“Will Carmen be okay?,” Maple asked. Edmund’s smile dropped just enough for Maple to notice.

“Carmen’s just a kid,” Edmund said. “I’m sure she’ll have problems with this on her own but… honestly I have no clue.”

Maple got off her bed and grabbed her stachel. Pulling out a book she opened to a marked page.

“I’m sure your moms are worried about you two too,” Maple said as she drew a circle in the air with her finger, it lit up but nothing happened and the circle fizzled out.

“I’m sure they are too,” Edmund sighed and pulled out his scroll. “They texted me a bunch earlier but I haven’t looked at any of them.”

“You should,” Maple tried making the circle again to the same result. “I know my mom would want to know I was okay if I stormed off after a fight.”

“Not that it’s any of my business,” Edmund said as he put his scroll away. “But do you and Willow fight like that often?”

“Not really,” Maple looked at the book intently, trying to figure out what she was doing wrong. “We get along great, I just wish she didn’t force me to try to like Phineas.”

“What’s that story? I know he’s not your biological father but why don’t you like him?”

“Apparently he went to school with Mom,” Maple started, still focusing on getting the spell right. “He didn’t really notice Mom until after she and Amity made up. After Hexside he just kinda worked and then he ran into Mom at the market. They started talking and catching up. They dated for a little while. I liked him when he was just dating my Mom. Then they just decided to get married after like 4 months of dating.”

Edmund stood up and moved over to Maple’s bed. He sat down next to her and looked at the spell she was working on. Maple’s brows furrowed.

“It was all so fast, it felt like they weren’t even considering my feelings.”

“Did you tell them that?”

“Kind of, I really let them know how fast I thought they were going but that obviously didn’t stop them.”

“Gotta love those teenage parental issues,” Edmund’s sarcasm made Maple chuckle. “Here I thought I was the only one but then you have to go and show me everyone has problems.”

“Please, Mom and Phineas are the least of my problems,” Maple groaned as she finished making another circle only for it to do nothing. “If I don’t get at least two spells down by tonight I get a failing grade.”

“Hmmmm,” Edmund stared at the page Maple had opened. With a simple wave of his finger he made the spell and a piece of paper materialized in front of him. Maple looked between Edmund and the book.

“How did you do that?” She asked, trying again but having the spell still fizzle out.

“The trick with materializing isn’t to think you’re creating something from the air,” Edmund said, doing it again. “Rather you pull it out of the air.”

Maple closed her eyes and tried to imagine what Edmund said. She moved her hand in a circle, but still nothing happened. Edmund shifted a little closer to her and adjusted her arms. Maple held back a shiver as he grabbed her hand and pulled it further ahead of herself.

“Here, give yourself some distance for your first few times,” Edmund really focused when he took magic seriously. No wonder he was able to pull off some of his pranks, and if he actually tried at school he would be a recognized genius. “Imagine a void, everything you can materialize is there, waiting for you. You just need to pull it out. Ready?”

Maple nodded and made the circle again. She imagined a piece of paper, waiting for her to bring it here. She closed her eyes before she finished the circle, opening them when she heard something fall on the floor. She looked down at a piece of paper, much rougher than the ones Edmund had made lying on the ground.

“I did it!” Maple said in disbelief. “I’ve been struggling with that for weeks!”

She reached over and hugged Edmund without thinking. He awkwardly reached up and patted her on the shoulder.

“You’re… welcome,” Edmund stumbled to get that out. Maple thought she saw a faint blush on his cheeks, but she didn’t care. She let go, beaming from ear to ear.

“Can you help me with some more?” Maple flipped to another page, this one showing a witch making a fireball and turning it into a snowball.

“Easy,” Edmund said, rolling his neck. “It’s going to be the same principle, you aren’t creating snow from fire, the fire already wants to be snow, you just need to encourage the change.”

“Okay,” Maple said, taking a deep breath stretching out her hand. She imagined the fireball, a spell she could kind of do, and started making the circle. Midway through the circle she tried to visualize the fireball becoming snow. She didn’t force the change, she just let it happen. She finished the circle, and watched as an, admittedly weak, fireball formed, then froze into a slushy mess.

“Holy! It worked!”

“See, told you,” Edmund had a grin on, Maple smiled back before her attention went to his missing tooth.

“What happened?” Maple motioned to her mouth. Edmund’s hand followed her movement before it hit the gap that was his tooth.

“I did something stupid,” Edmund said bluntly. “You don’t want to hear about it.”

“Sure I do,” Maple replied.

Edmund drew a circle, repeating the spell Maple just did.  _ He makes it look so easy _ , Maple thought as the fireball made the seamless transformation to snow. 

“If I tell you,” Edmund said, making another circle and causing the snow to disappear entirely. “You have to promise me you’ll try to understand where I was coming from. You’re going to be the first person to hear my side of the story, okay?”

“Okay,” Maple noted the tone Edmund had taken. He sounded like he was about to give her a shot and was trying to reassure himself that it wouldn’t backfire. “I promise.”

“This happened three years ago,” Edmund started, Maple moved a little so she could sit and look straight at him. “At this point I had already made that promise to my sister. The only way I could think to keep the promise was by following Eda’s example: prank mayhem. They were harmless but they got me the attention I wanted. Mamá was disappointed but it didn’t feel like I was actually doing anything other than annoy her. Then one day I did something to the wrong class and this kid got super offended. At recess he challenged me to a witch’s duel and I accepted. Neither of us knew anything super dangerous, but then I hit the kid on the shoulder. I hurt my hand more than I hurt him but he just lashed out at me. One hit straight to my tooth and it flew out of my mouth.”

“That’s all it took?” Maple asked. “One punch?”

“Trust me, it was a strong punch,” Edmund licked the area his tooth had been. “I went down, I honestly thought I might black out. Then I thought of Carmen, and I realized something: if all I did was try to recreate Eda then Luz would just treat me like Eda. I needed to be worse than her. I needed to go further, make everyone see that Edmund didn’t mess around. So I stood back up and punched the kid in the gut as hard as I could. He went down, but I didn’t stop. I lost a tooth, he ended up with a broken nose and dislocated arm. A teacher finally realized this wasn’t some playground fight and separated us. Mom had to leave work early to take me home. She was so heartbroken, all she did was yell at me until we got home. I went straight to my room and just cried… I know she was crying too but all I could think of was how much I was hurting. Not just the lost tooth, but the fact that I’d have to live with what I did everyday. When mamá came home with Carmen, I locked the door and didn’t come out until after midnight to get some food. I was suspended for a week, it would have been a lot longer if I had started the fight. If I could go back to that day, and just change one thing, I would have stayed down after I lost the tooth, because now this gap is just a reminder of how much of a monster I could be if I let myself.”

Maple had no idea what she should be feeling. Horrified that her childhood friend had that violent potential in him was the first came to mind. Should she be worried that he felt that he had to do that just to protect his sister from being looked down upon? Sad because this person she really liked hurt that much and never told anyone? Edmund laid down on her mattress and gazed at her ceiling.

“So that’s that,” Edmund concluded, waiting for a moment for Maple to say anything. “... If you don’t want to have anything to do with me again I tot-”

“That really sucked,” Maple blurted out. Edmund chuckled, which made Maple chuckle.

“Yeah it did,” Edmund rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Still does actually.”

“I’m glad you told me about this,” Maple said and meant it. “It’s so not cool you did that but it couldn’t have been easy to talk about.”

“Believe me, that was the worst fight I’ve ever been in. I’ve taken steps to make sure no one else has gotten that hurt again.”

“Still, did you ever apologize to that kid?”

“Honestly I don’t even know who it was. It’s not like he tried to not fight me or apologize either. I want to think I’d apologize but… I think that’s something counseling will help me with.”

“Edmund I...” There was so much she wanted to tell him. He really wasn’t like anyone she knew. He was hurt, but not like Salazar or her other pets. She wanted to be there for him, not try to heal him but just to show she cared. “There’s something I want to tell-”

“Edmund!” Willow shouted from what sounded like the ground floor. “Amity is here, she’s wondering if you want to go home?”

Edmund got up and walked over to the door to Maple’s room, opening it so he could respond.

“Yeah, I’ll be right down,” Edmund closed the door and turned to Maple. “What did you want to tell me?”

“I… it can wait till tomorrow, you should go home.

“Alright, see you tomorrow,” Edmund left through the door and Maple took a deep breath.

“Oh wait!” Edmund bust back in the room quickly. Like he forgot something “Before I go, you’re the best, thanks for everything tonight.”

With that he left again and Maple heard him running down the stairs. She looked over at Salazar, who had a giant mousy grin on his face.

“Shut up,” Maple stood up and opened the cage door. She brought the chimichilla up to her neck. “He’s not ready to be more than friends right now and that’s okay. Maybe he never will be but at least he’s actually talking to me now.”

She walked over to the window and watched as Edmund left with Amity, flying into the night sky. She let out a sigh and returned to her book, practicing the two spells Edmund had helped her with. After making her 10th piece of paper she realized just how much she liked blank pieces of paper for no real reason except that they reminded her of Edmund.


	17. A Starting Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, two new chapters for you as we head towards the end of this first part. I also started a new fanfic with this fanfic's beta: Lexa-Alcyia based on an idea I had. It's called Unspoken words and I'm really proud of what she and I have done so far. Please check it out and I'll be back on Sunday with two more chapters of this.

“We’re back!” Amity said for the second time that day as she and Edmund entered their home. Luz was sitting on the couch reading a book. She looked up and smiled at Amity and Edmund as they came into the house. From the second floor Amity heard Carmen’s door open followed by the sound of her rushing footsteps.

“EDMUND!” Carmen shouted as she ran into him at full force, wrapping around him in a hug and knocking him back.

“Hey!” Edmund greeted her as he reached behind him to grab the door for balance.

“You said you’d be back before I went to bed!” Carmen let go and folded her arms and stuck out her lip to pout.

“Sorry,” Edmund kicked off his shoes and knelt down to be at Carmen’s eye level. “I was helping Maple with her homework. I lost track of time and stayed later than I meant to.”

“Really?” Carmen’s expression softened. “You were just doing homework?”

“Yeah, what else would we be…”

A sly smile crept onto Carmen’s face. Edmund’s face turned red and he covered it with his hands. Amity herself was holding back laughter, they didn’t talk much on the flight back, Edmund said he wanted to talk to both Luz and herself about today. He had said that talking to Maple helped give him some perspective on things. 

“No Carmen,” Edmund said as Carmen started laughing. “Really all I did was help her with her homework I swear.”

“Maple and Edmund sitting in a tree,” Carmen started singing as she ran into the kitchen. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Carmen!” Edmund called out but at this point the damage was done. Carmen wasn’t going to let this go for a while. She took after Luz in the romance department: utterly hopeless and over the top. Amity made a note not to let Maple over for a while until she and Luz could talk to Carmen about how she should behave around her. 

Edmjund stood back up and looked over at Luz, who was currently hiding her mouth behind her hand in an effort to spare her son the embarrassment of hearing her wild laughter.

“Hola mamá,” Edmund said, trying to sound happy but not quit making it. 

“Hola hijo,” Luz said, still fighting laughter. She put her book down and folded her hands. “How was spending the evening with Willow and Maple?”

“It was nice,” Edmund walked into the living room, sitting on the floor. “Really all I did was speak with Maple and help her with homework. I don’t need you or Carmen trying to play matchmaker or tease me or her about anything.”

“I would never tease you about having a friend,” Luz leaned forward and ruffled Edmund’s hair. “I think it’s great that you two are talking again.”

“Thanks,” Edmund sighed. “But seriously, don’t try to get us together.”

“I think mamá has more tact than that,” Amity sat down next to Luz, planting a kiss on her cheek. “At least I hope so in the 20 some years of marriage.”

Luz rolled her eyes and cuddled next to Amity. Somehow, being this close to Luz would still make her heartbeat speed up.

“Alright,” Luz said in defeat. “I promise I won’t do anything to push you and Maple together.”

“Thanks,” Edmund said as Carmen came back in with a glass of water. The girl was already in her  _ Good Witch Azura  _ pajamas. She let out a loud yawn before drinking some of the water.

“Can we read before bed mom?” Carmen asked as she brought the glass down from her lips. 

“I think it’s too late for that honey,” Amity glanced at the clock, it really was past her bedtime and Carmen still had school tomorrow. 

“Will you tuck me in at least?” Carmen pleaded, there was no way Amity could say no to that face.

“Of course,” Amity stood up and followed Carmen upstairs. Luz and Edmund remained sitting, Amity could feel the silent tension between them build but that would have to wait until she got back. 

Amity entered Carmen’s room to see Carmen carefully arranging her stuffed animals. Some of them were hand me downs from Edmund, others were entirely her own. The new arrangement needed to be made for the recently found Hugh. Luz and Amity spent hours looking for him after Carmen said that’s what she wanted to bring to school. The three had a lot of fun going through everything, it brought back a lot of good memories. 

_ Those memories felt recent,  _ Amity thought as she sat on Carmen’s bed,  _ She’s six already. It feels like yesterday Edmund was six. Titan maybe we should try for another? _

“Hey mom?” Carmen asked as she finished arranging her sleeping companions. “Are mamá and Edmund going to talk?”

“Of course,” Amity ran her hand down Carmen’s face. “I’ll be there for both of them too. They might fight for a little while about this but it’s better now that everything is out.”

“I know it isn’t my fault,” Carmen reached for Hugh and brought him close. “But I still feel bad.”

“I know,” Amity moved closer to Carmen and wrapped her arms around her. “You’re just like your mamá, she’s so empathetic, it got her in so much trouble when we were young.”

“What’s empathetic?” Carmen reached around Amity, still holding the manatee in on hand.

“It means you’re good at telling how other people feel, and feel it too. You’re picking up all the sadness they have and want to help them.”

“They must be really sad then?” Carmen asked as she let go of Amity. Amity nodded but smiled.

“It’s okay to be sad though,” Amity explained. “Things will be better in time. We just need to show both of them we love them.”

“I think I can do that,” Carmen said as she smiled. Amity pulled back the covers to Carmen’s bed. Carmen climbed in, looking up at Amity. “Love you Mom.”

“Love you Carmen,” Amity bent down and gave Carmen a kiss. “Get a goodnight’s sleep okay? I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you in the morning,” Carmen said through a yawn as she snuggled into her blankets and cuddled Hugh. 

Amity quietly left the room, being sure to turn off the lights. She shut the door behind her and listened to see if she could hear anything from the living room. It was completely silent. Amity took a deep breath and headed down the stairs.

“Hey guys,” Amity looked into the living room. Edmund was sitting, drawing in his notebook while Luz had returned to her book. The previous tension was still there, but not quite as surfaced as it was. Amity walked back over to the couch. “So… um… a lot happened today and after Edmund… left we didn’t get to talk about it… so I think we should talk.”

Luz chuckled as she put her book down. Edmund was still focused on his drawing.

“I’m sorry Amity,” Luz said, reaching out and grabbing Amity’s hand. “That was the worst way you could explain what happened today. We should talk though.”

“Yeah,” Edmund agreed, taking Luz by surprise. 

“R… really?” Luz sounded scared, like this was a new prank Edmund was pulling.

Edmund nodded and shrugged. “One of the exercises I got today was to ‘communicate a problem with your parents without shouting,’ seems like a good enough problem as any.”

“Okay, well,” Amity straightened up and focused on Edmund. “In that case Edmund why don’t you start?”

“So,” Edmund put down his sketch pad. He puffed out his checks as breathed out, getting ready to lay out some of what he talked about with Maple. “First of all I don’t hate you. You’re my mom and I love you.”

“I love you too Edmund,” Luz said after Edmund had given a pause. “You drive me crazy but my love for you will never be in question.”

“Well sometimes it doesn’t feel like that,” Edmund said looking away from them. “It’s not your fault, at least I don’t think it is. It just seemed like you had this… plan for how our life would go.”

Luz opened her mouth to speak but Amity quickly put her hand on Luz’s, shaking her head. Whatever needed to say they needed to hear without interruption. When she called Maggie that was the advice the healer gave her. Luz would mean well but Amity could tell that Edmund would view a back and forth between them as more of an argument than Luz actually listening to him.

“When it was just the three of us I didn’t notice,” Edmund continued. “Things seemed so perfect. They weren’t but it wasn’t like it is now. We had each other and that felt like enough. When Carmen came things were better…”

Edmund leaned over to glance at the stairs. Amity followed his gaze and saw nothing. Edmund looked down to the ground and took a deep breath in. He looked straight at Luz, Amity decided to keep her attention on Edmund.

“Then I noticed these looks you’d give her,” Edmund’s voice took an angry tone. “Whenever you’d talk to her about magic and glyphs. Or when you two would talk about her and you thought I wasn’t listening. I didn’t get it at first but I surmised what was going on. I thought you were embarrassed about Carmen.”

Not in her wildest guesses would this be what Amity thought this was what Edmund thought of Luz. Shock spread across her features and her chest tightened. She felt Luz’s hand find her own and squeezed it. 

“I knew you wanted her to be able to magic like me. Whenever I asked you guys why she couldn’t do magic you said she was born that way. So every time I saw that look it just… wore me down. Carmen didn’t deserve that disappointed look, she couldn’t control not not having a bile sac. I began to see these cracks, everywhere in our home. Little moments when you guys treated her like this delicate thing or didn’t let her do things I could. Especially you mamá, you always were so careful, so guarded with her. The more I looked for those cracks the more I found, it was like they made a map straight back to you. Where the plan was for you to have a perfect life. Then Carmen came and the plan kept changing and you blamed her for all of it.”

Edmund stopped talking and picked up his sketch pad, turning it so that both Luz and Amity could see what he was drawing. It was a rough gestural drawing of Luz sitting, focused on her book, a frustrated look on her face.

“I always thought that this face meant you were thinking about Carmen,” Edmund said in disgust. “Then you told me what actually happened, and you told me how much you hated yourself. I didn’t get it until I started drawing this. This face is you thinking about yourself isn’t it?”

Edmund’s voice cracked a little at the end. Amity looked over at Luz, who was tearing up through closed eyes.

“You thought I was disappointed in Carmen all this time?” Luz asked, struggling to control the crying. 

“Yeah,” Edmund said, his own voice sounding like he could cry any moment. “That was the only reason I could explain why you’d look at her that way.”

“All this time,” Luz repeated as she buried her face in her hands. Amity reached over and rubbed Luz’s back as she really started crying.

“Shhhh,” Amity said softly as Luz leaned into her. Amity held Luz tight with one arm as the other continued what it was already doing. Amity glanced at Edmund, the teen himself was silently crying, keeping his eyes closed as he did so. Amity herself felt tears begin to pool at the base of her eyes. Luz eventually settled down enough to sit upright, she looked at Edmund, who was still keeping his eyes closed.

“Edmund I… if… I… I need you to know that I never, never, blamed Carmen for what happened that day,” Luz said through jagged breath. 

“I know mom,” Edmund finally opened his eyes, they glistened with tears but Edmund’s voice didn’t give anything away. “I just wish I knew that sooner, would’ve saved us all a lot of heartache.”

“I should have told you sooner,” Luz said, her voice still shaky. “I don’t know why we didn’t. Titan, I’m such a horrible parent.”

“No you’re not,” Amity said, bringing her hand away from Luzs back and folding with her other. “We both made plenty of mistakes here. The important thing is we’re talking about it now.”

The three of them sat for a moment. Luz was the first to break the silence.

“Is this why you act up in school? Because of me?”

“No, at least not entirely,” Edmund said, breathing out a sigh. “It’s… it’s more complicated than that.”

Amity furrowed her eyebrows, if the problem wasn’t just Luz was it also her? “Can you tell us wh-”

“Can we not talk about that?” Edmund interrupted Amity, standing up off the floor as he did. “I’m… there’s a lot I need to figure out okay. Can we just leave this here tonight?”

Amity had some idea of how tired Edmund must be. Going home after the counselor was the most exhausted she had been in some time. Everything else was just more on top of that. Still there was a lot more Amity wanted to say. She didn’t want to pressure Edmund into talking but after all that happened she was worried about him.

“Of course,” Luz said, surprising Amity. Amity looked over, Luz was still drying her eyes but she was smiling now. “It’s been a long day, you should get some sleep.”

“It’s only 10:15pm, not that late really,” Edmund said, though he was already going towards the stairs. “I’ll be in my room.”

“Hang on!” Amity got up and gave Edmund a hug. “Nothing about today was easy but I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks mom,” Edmund said quietly as he hugged her back. He held it for a second and let go, Amity didn’t want to just yet though. Edmund was just shorter than her and Luz, it would only be a matter of months probably that he shot over them. Who knows how tall he’d grow? This might be one of the last times she could give him an arm-level hug.

“Mom?” Edmund said uncomfortably.

“Sorry, sorry,” Amity let go smiling. “I just love you so much.”

“I know,” Edmund sighed out and turned to go up the stairs. “I love you too Mom. Te amo mamá.”

“Te amo también hijo,” Luz smiled tearfully from the couch. Edmund walked up the stairs, disappearing from Amity’s view as he entered his room and closed the door. Amity walked back to the couch and sat next to Luz.

“That went pretty well,” Amity said cheerfully, and she did mean it. This was the most Edmund had talked to them about himself without yelling in who knows how long?

“He actually talked to us,” Luz repositioned herself so she was laying on Amity, her head pressed against her wife’s chest. “He doesn’t totally hate me anymore so that’s a plus.”

“He never totally hated you,” Amity shifted a little so that she was more comfortable with Luz on her. “You two just… he saw things one way and never asked us about it.”

“Because we never told him about her,” Luz said sadly. “Here I thought we were doing better than our parents.”

“We’re still doing better than mine,” Amity joked. “At least we’re dealing with it properly. Are you ready to hear it?”

“Here what?” Luz looked at Amity confused making Amity chuckle 

“You were right and I was wrong,” Amity bent down and kissed Luz’s forehead. “Counseling is what Edmund needed, he responded well to it and wants this to work.”

“I see,” Luz moved so that she could more easily look at Amity. “So I am a good parent is what you’re saying.”

“That was never in doubt,” Amity brushed Luz’s hair to the side. “Hey, I was tucking Carmen in and she's growing up.”

“Yeah,” Luz closed her eyes as Amity played with her hair. “She’s already in school, pretty crazy.”

“Do…” Amity hesitated to ask Luz what she thought about having another kid. They never really talked about it too much when they were first married. They knew they wanted one, maybe two, but 3? “Have you thought about..”

“What Amity?” Luz opened her eyes and smiled. “What’s on your mind?”

“What would you say about having another kid?” Amity blurted, definitely not making the soft tone she had hoped to ask that question with. Luz’s face went blank and she sat up, looking at the wall ahead of her.

“Another kid?” Luz asked, Amity couldn’t see her face but she guessed at the panicked expression she had. “Another kid?”

“Luz I’m sorry,” Amity moved over and embraced Luz in a hug. “It was stupid of me to ask. Just forget about it.”

“No no no no,” Luz turned around and wrapped her arms around Amity. “I just… I wasn’t expecting that. We never talked about having more.”

“I know,” Amity said apologetically. “But we never talked about not having more either. I get it if you don’t want more. I wouldn’t ask you to go through that again. It’s just, I’m not sure I’m ready for it to be just the two of us again. Edmund’s going to graduate in 4 years, Carmen in 12. If we have another kid it would be an additional 6 years to share this house with someone.”

“We’d be in our 50’s by then,” Luz’s voice shook with laughter. “Edmund could be married and have kids. I don’t know Amity.”

“I’m not asking to have one tomorrow,” Amity let go of Luz and scooted back. “I want us to think about it, that’s all.”

Luz looked past Amity and up the stairs towards their kid’s rooms. Amity watched as her face went from a frown, then a smile, before looking back at Amity.

“We’ll talk about it,” Luz said finally. “We’re not exactly young anymore but if this is what we both want I’m fine with it.”

“Okay,” Amity nodded. “Honestly I’m not sure either, it’s been such a crazy day. I just was tucking Carmen in and realized how little time we’ve got left with them. If that’s all then I’m so happy with it. If it’s not then I want to have more of those moments.”

“I know,” Luz got up and headed to the stairs. “I’m going to bed, care to join me?”

“I’ll be there soon,” Amity stood up and stretched “I’ve got some stuff I want to do first.”

“Don’t take too long,” Luz’s voice took on a sing-song tone as she climbed up the stairs. Amity walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. She pulled out her scroll and went to her messages. Her mood darkened as she looked at the list of missed calls . There was only one name there: Dad. Amity’s finger hovered over the name but she put the scroll down after a minute.

_ It’s been 6 years since he tried to talk to me,  _ Amity made her way upstairs.  _ Whatever he wants to say to me can wait until the morning. I’m going to snuggle with my wife until we fall asleep. _

Amity made her way up the stairs, entering the room she and Luz shared. Luz was in the en-suite bathroom brushing her teeth. A small smirk crept onto Amity’s face.

_ On second thought,  _ Amity thought as she entered the bathroom,  _ we might be up for a little while _


	18. Friendships Worth Fighting For

Alden stood at the front of the class, nervously holding a pair of glasses in front of himself to show to the class. His hands were shaking and Carmen could see the fear in his eyes. He had mentioned to Carmen before class started he was afraid of public speaking, but she had no idea it would be this bad. Taking a deep breath he started telling the class about his show and tell.

“Tese glasses waa… wea… they used to be mine. Ten my mom said I had to get newa ones because my eyes were sa.. ta… sha… getting worse.”

Giggles erupted to Carmen’s right. She glanced over at Nora and her friends, they were all covering their mouths with their hands as they looked at Alden. Alden noticed this and quickly looked at the wall at the back of the class. Mrs. Abbott held her finger up to her mouth to indicate silence before returning her attention to Alden.

“I’ve had glasses since I was twee… swee…,” Alden closed his eyes as he tried to regain his focus. Carmen looked at Nora, who looked like she was about to burst from holding back her laughter. 

_ Not again,  _ Carmen thought and looked back at Alden,  _ she’s not going to hurt Alden again! _

“Alden” Carmen said, disguising it as a cough. No one else noticed but Alden opened his eyes and looked at her. Carmen gave him two thumbs up, then moved her fingers in a circle. Alden nodded, looking back to his glasses.

“My mom and dad also need glasses,” he continued on, looking between the glasses and Carmen. “Tey said, I am neawsighted, meaning I can’t see tings faw away. I don’t mind having glasses, because it reminds me of my mom and dad. As long I wememba to clean them off, and don’t scratch or damage them I can see just fine. Tese are my glasses from when I was twee, tank you.”

Carmen exploded into applause, Diana and Basil also clapping loudly. The rest of the room was calmly clapping, as was Mrs. Abbott. Alden walked back to his seat, breathing out as he sat down.

“You did great Alden!” Carmen held out her hand, which took Alden a second to remember it was for a high five.

“Tanks,” he slapped his hand with hers. “I wealy didn’t do that well though.”

“What?!” Carmen said in disbelief. “You did great, you had the best show and tell so far!”

“But I was the first one.”

“Exactly, no one else compares,” Carmen and Alden both giggle. Mrs. Abbott cleared her throat.

“Alright,” Mrs. Abbott said looking around the room. “Who wants to go next?”

Carmen’s hand shot up like a rocket and she stood up a little out of excitement.

“Carmen, come on up, then you can go Nora.”

Carmen made her way up to the front of the classroom, Hugh in hand. When she got to the front, she looked over to her friends. Alden gave her the same thumbs up she gave him. Basil and Diana both gave encouraging waves, and Carmen waved back. Then she looked over at Nora, who was looking away from Carmen. Her eyes darted to Carmen briefly, but looked away again just as fast.

“Hello,” Carmen started brightly. “I’m Carmen and this is Hugh. Hugh is my big brother’s stuffed animal but he gave it to me after I was born. When I was born, my mamá was in the Human Realm because that’s where my Abuela lives.”

“Carmen,” Mrs. Abbott briefly interrupted. “Can you tell the class what Abuela means?”

“Yeah,” Carmen nodded. “Abuela means Grandmother. When I was born, I wasn’t supposed to be, I was two months early from when mamá was expecting me. My bile sac had ruptured, which means that it was broken. Since mamá was in the human realm there was no magic to fix it, so doctors had to take it out or I could’ve died.”

The class let out gasps across the room, whispers floated around. Nora was now looking at Carmen, but with the same disgusted look she had on the first day. Carmen looked back to her friends, who smiled at her. She had told them a little of what she was going to tell the class beforehand but not that she had almost died. Alden looked like he might pass out from learning that.

“I know not having a bile sac is weird,” Carmen brought her hand over her heart. “But I don’t care, I’m going to be a great witch like everyone else here! My mamá did it and I can too or my name isn’t Carmen Blight-Noceda!”

Mrs. Abbott, Alden, Basil and Diana all applauded, the rest of the class was silent. A few of the other students lightly clapped, but things quickly quieted down. Carmen made her way back to her seat. 

“Thank you Carmen,” Mrs. Abbott said. “Nora, want to begin?”

Nora briskly walked up to the class, carrying a small book. She explained to the class it was the first thing she ever levitated. The applause was louder than both Carmen’s and Alden’s by a lot. Show and tell went on without anything else eventful happening. Diana showed the class her favorite sweater, it was her favorite because the way the fabric felt always helped her calm down. Basil presented a string game he was a master at, being able to make intricate designs just by twisting his hands a few times.

Show and tell lasted all morning, until lunchtime, which had improved since the first day for Carmen since she started eating with her friends. After the hectic day yesterday, Amity slept in and forgot to make lunch for everyone, so she was stuck eating cafeteria food. It wasn’t too far off from Amity’s cooking actually.

“Hey Diana?” Carmen asked after swallowing a mouthful of food. Diana held up a finger as she herself was chewing.

“Yeah?”

“What did you mean when you said the fabric helps you calm down?” Carmen asked. She knew that Diana had trouble with people looking at her sometimes, but was there more to it than that?

“Well,” Diana leaned back and tried to put the words together in her head. “Sometimes, things are just too much for me. So being able to hold onto the sweater or rub it on my arms helps.”

“I know wat you mean,” Alden said. “When I was up tere, in fwont of evewyone I was panicking.”

Diana shook her head and grabbed her sweater.

“It’s not like that,” Diana said focusing on the sweater, rubbing the fabric between her fingers. “I’m not scared, I just don’t like people focusing on me or looking at me for too long. Crowds are disorienting and some sounds can bother me. Having this with is… it’s familiar.”

Diana looked up and gave a faint smile to everyone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to take over lunchtime.”

“It’s okay,” Carmen smiled back. “It’s good to talk about this stuff.”

“Thanks,” Diana went back to eating, though she kept smiling.

“Carmen?” Basil was giving her an inquisitive look. “If your mother hadn’t left, you could do magic right?”

“Maybe,” Carmen shrugged. “We think so but there’s no way to tell for sure.”

“Doessss it botthher you?”

“No,” Carmen said, lifting her fork to take another bite before pausing. “Well, yeah it does bother me.”

“Vutt aau’we soo foool!” Alden exclaimed, his mouth filled with sandwich.

“What?” Camren shot him a confused look, Basil raised his eyebrow in question. Alden swallowed his food and quickly swished some milk.

“I said you’we so cool!” Alden almost stood off the bench as he got excited. “You’we the coolest pawson I know!”

“Thanks Alden,” Carmen gave him the same big smile she gave to Diana. Alden went back to his lunch, intently focusing on the fruit in front of him. Carmen had been so busy talking and listening to everyone that she had to hurry to finish her food as people began to clear out for recess. 

There had been some boiling rain very early in the morning so the ground was a bit muddy. Still they managed to find a bit of unharmed ground to sit on as Basil showed them his string game.

“Thhhisss issss a game where beauty is the end goal,” Basil explained, his hands twisting and folding. “Sssometimesss beauty can be found in just a few moves. Oththther times it takes many unexxxoected twists to get to the end.”

Basil finished moving his hands and showed his friends a complex looking design that closely resembled Basil’s own reptilian eye. The three watchers gave a quiet ohhh before Basil removed the string from his fingers and handed it to Carmen.

“The trick isss to not worry about how good you are at the ssstart,” Basil helped Carmen setup. “Jussst make a sssimple ssshape like a triangle or sssquare.”

Carmen nodded and began to twist her hands. She could almost see how she could make a square. A twist of this hand, a twirl of both hands and she almost-

“Would you look at this,” a snide voice said from behind Carmen. She turned around to see Nora and four of her friends with her. “All four of the weirdos in one spot, I’m amazed that they can manage to have any conversations between the lisssper, the loser, and the quiet one.”

“HEY!” Carmen shot up off the ground. She tried to point at Nora but her hands were caught in the string. Try as she might she couldn’t get the string off her fingers at that moment, causing Nora and friends to laugh. Eventually Carmen just put her hands down and continued on. “You can’t make fun of them just because of how they talk.”

“I wouldn’t dweam of it,” Nora said in a mocking imitation of Alden. “I would twemble at da taught of huwrting tear feewings.”

“Why you-” Carmen started to really struggle against the string before she looked up, a smile spreading across her face. “I’d look behind you Nora.”

Nora turned around and saw Mrs. Abbott walking over to them. Nora gave Carmen one last look of disdain before moving on. 

“Is everything okay Carmen?” Mrs. Abbott asked when she finally got to them. Carmen glanced at her friends. Alden and Basil were focused on Diana, who was holding her sweater tightly. Carmen sighed and looked back to Mrs. Abbott.

“Everything is okay, it was just a little tense between us.”

“Alright, well I’ll be over there if you need me,” Mrs. Abbott pointed towards the other teachers. Carmen nodded and sat back down. Finally getting the string off her fingers, she handed them back to Basil.

“What’s wrong Diana?” Carmen asked crouching down so that she was at Diana’s eye level.

“You were really loud,” Diana mumbled out.

“I-” Carmen furrowed her brow.  _ She’s upset with me?  _ Carmen looked between Basil and Alden. Both of them were looking at Diana with concern, unsure of how they could help her. “But, I was just trying to help.”

“I know, but you shouted,” Diana was taking deep breaths as she held onto her sweater. She wasn’t going to cry but she was clearly upset. 

_ Is this what she meant when she said things can be too much for her?  _ Carmen thought to herself, she reached out to touch Diana but pulled back.

“Diana, I’m so sorry,” Carmen got a little closer to her friend. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I just need a few minutes,” Diana said, looking around at everyone. “Can you guys make sure no one gets close?”

“Of course,” Carmen stood up and motioned for Alden and Basil to do the same. Carmen made a circular gesture with her hands, Basil nodded and moved away from Diana by a few feet, turning so he was facing away from her. Alden mouth the word “what” to Carmen. She smiled and rolled her eyes, pointing to a spot a little bit away from Alden and then pointing to the area in front of him. Alden looked at Basil, then at the spot Carmen had pointed at. Everything finally clicked and he lightly hit himself in the forehead. He moved over, giving Carmen two thumbs up before he began looking out. Carmen rolled her eyes again before moving to keep an eye on the area in front of her. 

She could see Nora and her friends a few yards away, but they weren’t really paying attention to Carmen. They looked over at them once, other than that they clearly were too busy with whatever they were talking about to care. A few minutes passed before Diana stood up and tapped Carmen on the shoulder.

“I’m okay now,” she said while wrapping the sweater around her waist. She took a second to let go of the sleeves, once she did she let out a deep breath. “Do you guys want to do anything?”

“I’d like to go on the scweams,” Alden said, his attention devoted entirely to the swing like equipment that had about a fifty-fifty chance of throwing a student off them. “It makes me feel like im flying.”

“I can do the screams,” Diana nodded.

“Screamset it is!” Carmen declared but not too loudly for Diana’s sake. 

The group made their way over to the lines stretching behind the set. It was a longer line but moving fast as students were lobbed off at random. When they got to the front of the line, Diana carefully took off her sweater and put it at the base of the set. Carmen nodded at her as the two began to gain height. Diana’s hair flapped through the air as the two started to get higher and higher in their arcs. Carmen was the first of the two to be thrown off. She didn’t get too far away from the set but she didn’t fall. Diana lasted just a few seconds longer before she was ejected, her arc was much higher than Carmen’s and she landed gracefully on the ground, making a bowing motion to Carmen after she caught her balance. Carmen returned it with a curtsey. The two girls started laughing, finally having a joyful moment in what had otherwise been a downer of a day. 

“Oh man,” Carmen said between laughs. “We should go on the screamset more often.”

“It’s fun,” Diana agreed, catching her breath. “It never lasts as long as I want it to though.”

“True,” Carmen said as Diana adjusted her hair, which had moved in front of her face from the fall and her bow.  _ Her hair is so cool _ , Carmen noted,  _ she’s really smart and pretty too. I’m glad she’s not mad at me for shouting _ . 

Diana started walking back over to the screamset, stopping in front of it.

“Carmen,” Diana said. Carmen walked over. 

“What’s-” Carmen saw immediately what was wrong. Diana’s sweater was gone.

“Ow, next time you guysss do this I’m jussst playing my game.” Basil said from behind the two as he walked over. “What are we looking at?”

“Diana’s sweater is gone,” Carmen said dryly, Basil’s eyes widened.

“It’s gone, it’s gone, it’s gone,” Diana was tapping her chest with one hand as she stared at the ground where her sweater was. “It’s gone, it’s gone.”

“Hey,” Carmen lightly put a hand on Diana’s shoulder. When Diana turned around Carmen saw the sheer panic on her face. Her eyes were wide and her breathing was jagged. “We’re going to look for it okay, it probably just blew away. Don’t worry okay? We’re going to find it.”

Diana nodded, taking some deep breaths as she stopped repeating words to herself. Carmen looked at the screamset, Alden was still on it and seemed to be determined to break whatever record the playground had.

“Basil, why don’t you look on that side of the playground,” Carmen pointed towards the area they had been. “We’ll make our way towards Mrs. Abbott and see if she’s seen it.”

“Ssssoundssss like a plan,” Basil headed off, both of his eyes scanning opposite directions.

“Let’s get going,” Carmen felt Diana reach over and grab her arm as they headed off. It wasn’t tight but Carmen felt herself blush a little. They looked all over as they made their way to the teachers but couldn’t find so much as a sign of it. By the time they got to Mrs. Abbott, Diana was holding onto Carmen with a deathgrip.

“Mrs. Abbott, have you seen Diana’s sweater?” Carmen asked politely.

“No,” Mrs. Abbott replied. “Do you need help finding it?”

“Basil is looking for it over there, I’m sure he’s found it by now.”

“Okay, well, if you need help or can’t find it let me know.”

“We will, thank you,” Carmen turned around and started heading over towards Basil. He was crouched by a mud puddle examining something.

“Basil, did you find it,”

“I think ssso,” he said quietly and moved over for Carmen and Diana to see the puddle. Right in the center was Diana’s sweater, smashed into the mud as though someone trampled it in. Diana’s breathing picked up as she began to hyperventilate.

“No, no no no no no no no,” Diana reached towards it but slipped and fell in. She picked herself up and slowly grabbed her sweater. She rubbed it, and started shaking her head. “Wrong wrong wrong.”

“Diana,” Carmen walked over and picked her up from the mud. She looked at Basil, who just nodded at her and made his way over to Mrs. Abbott. At the screamset, Alden was finally thrown off. Diana saw him run over to Basil and the two started talking. Out of the corner of her eye, Carmen saw someone approach.

“Well isn’t that a shame,” Nora said in a mocking tone. The girls behind her held back laughter. “I wonder who could have done this.”

“You rotten,” Carmen started letting go of Diana but the girl gripped her arm to keep her own balance. Carmen put her arms around Diana and backed away. “Just wait till Mrs. Abbott-”

“What, we’ve been over there,” Nora pointed to the spot Carmen had seen them earlier. “Mrs. Abbott saw us there all recess, someone else must have ruined that trashy sweater.”

“Why I outta-”

“Cawmen!” Alden ran over, putting himself between her and Nora. “You need to leave my fwiends alone!”

“Or what mumble mouth?” Nora walked a little closer to him. “Awe you gonna pwotect you gullfwiend.”

“I’ll pwo...pwo...pw” Alden was struggling again, and this time there wasn’t anything Carmen could do to help. Looking behind her, Mrs. Abbott was busy helping another student with a scraped knee as Basil paced behind her.

“Come on Alden, let’s go,” Carmen said fiercely to show Nora she wasn’t scared.

“Yeah,” Nora looked from Alden to Carmen, as she struggled to help Diana. “Looks like your girlfriend doesn’t think you can stand up for yourself. Makes sense, you might be a worse witch than she is.”

“She’s a gwe...gweat witch!” Alden exclaimed, he turned around but his foot slipped on the mud puddle and he fell. Carmen heard the sound of shattering glass. Alden took off his glasses, looking at the broken lens, his hands shaking.

“Smooth,” Nora said, turning around to leave. “No wonder Carmen hangs out with you, she could almost pass as norma-”

Whatever Nora said was interrupted by the mudball that hit the back of her head. Alden was back on his feet, breathing heavily, already making another mudball. Nora turned around, giving Alden a death stare.

“Oh, that was a big mistake.” She said, cracking her knuckles.


	19. Helping Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, one of the last updates for this particularly story. Hard to believe it's almost over. I'm going to do two chapters per update, that ends this particular story next week. Me and Lexa_Alcyia (who beta reads and edits this fanfic) are working on another fanfic called Unspoken Words that we're really proud of if you want more of my writing. You should also check out her Infinity Train/The Owl House AU if you haven't already. I hope you enjoy these chapters and I'll see you Wednesday.

For the first time in years, Luz wasn’t heading to the principal's office because of Edmund. On one hand, this meant Edmund was actually having a good day and hopefully things were finally going to turn around for him. On the other hand, Carmen was involved in a fight with Nora for the third time in the first week of school.

_ Mija,  _ _ ¿por qué harías esto?  _ Lus asked herself as she made her way to Bump’s office. Gladis was reading a magazine today as she silently gestured for Luz to enter the office. Needing no further invitation she opened the door. 

The first thing that struck Luz was how dirty all the kids were. Every single one of them was covered in mud. It was like they had all gone out of their way to get it on as much of each other as possible. She could barely recognize Carmen except for the fact that she was the only one looking directly at Luz, her eyes big and apologetic.

“Hola  mamá ,” she mumbled softly before looking back at Bump. 

The principal was on a crystal ball, trying to talk to one of the parents.

“I understand this is the middle of the day but your child was in a fight and needs to be taken home.”

“Mr. Bump, I can’t leave, my boss will fire me if I leave with no one to cover for me,” Luz recognized the voice as belonging to Alden’s mom. “Isn’t there something else we can do?”

“I’m afraid Alden is in no state to stay in school at the moment.”

“I can take Alden home with me,” Luz chimed in. “I know you don’t really know me but I’d be more than happy to-”

“Is that Luz?” The voice called from the ball.

“Yes Mrs. Clark,”

“Just Ms. Clark,” the voice said back. “Would you really be able to?”

“Of course,” Luz said. “It wouldn’t be any trouble at all.”

“Thank the Titan,” Isla breathed out. “What’s your number, I’ll call you when my shift is over so we can figure how I’ll pick up Alden.”

“Sure,” Luz gave Ms. Clark her number as she heard voices calling for Isla in the background.

“I have to go, Alden?”

“Yes mom?”

“Please be good for Mrs. Blight-Noceda.”

“I will,” Alden said shamefully. Isla hung up and Bump put the ball to the side.

“Well, that takes care of that,” he said as if the whole situation was resolved.

“I’m sorry Principal,” Luz held up a hand in confusion. “What exactly happened?”

“Well,” Bump looked around between all the children. “I don’t know fully, everyone has a different account and Diana can’t say anything right now.”

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Luz bent down to look at Diana, her voice was soft and caring. Diana held onto a piece of clothing caked in mud and shook her head.

“Nora put her sweater in the mud,” Carmen chimed in. “She needs it to help her calm down.”

“Is that what’s going on?” Luz asked Diana, who nodded.

“Until Ms. Fisher can give us testimony I’m sending all the children home. They’re in no state to learn like this and would only distract the class. We’ll meet Monday to get the full story from everyone. Mrs. Selene and Mr. Fisher are on their way to get their children. Luz, you have the rest of the day off to take care of Carmen.” 

“Thank you Principal,” Luz said with a sigh. “Please let Edmund know that he’ll be picked up by Amity later.”

“Of course,” Bump nodded and smiled. “If there’s anything else you know my number. In the meantime have a good day Mrs. Blight-Noceda.”

“Have a good day,” Luz returned the gesture and grabbed Carmen’s hand gently. She offered her other hand to Alden. He looked at it for a moment then accepted it. They made their way out of the school in silence.

Once they were out of the building and on their way home did Carmen talk.

“Are you mad  mamá ?” Carmen asked.

“I don’t know Mija,” Luz sighed. “What happened? Did you start the fight?”

“I started it,” Alden said, sniffling. “Nora was insulting Carmen and Diana so I threw a mud ball at her.”

“You what?!” Luz stopped and knelt down so she was at both children’s eyeline. “Alden, there is no reason to start a fight unless someone else is in trouble.”

“Diana was in trouble,” Carmen interjected. “She was repeating herself and couldn’t think straight. It was really scary seeing her like that.”

“Nowa was also making fun of Cawmen,” Alden added. “She kept saying how see wasn’t a witch.”

“I can handle that,” Carmen stamped her foot. “I’m not normal and I don’t mind that.”

“Well I don’t mind it either,” Alden said, his head lowering to the ground.

“Alden?” Luz reached out rubbed his cheek. “Did Nora say something about you?”

“See said I was a wowse wits tan Cawmen,” the boy said, sniffling. “Sees wight.”

“Alden,” Luz wrapped the witchling in a hug. “You are not a worse witch than anyone. You just started school and have a long way to go. It took Carmen weeks to learn just the light spell. Who knows how long Nora practiced her spell before she got it right. As far as I can tell, you’ve got the heart of a true witch already.”

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Alden’s sniffling got harder. Carmen walked over and joined Luz in hugging Alden.

“You’re a great witch Alden,” Carmen reassured. “You picked up the light glyph really quickly. I don’t care if everyone else makes fun of you, you’re my best friend.”

“Really?” Alden’s voice rose slightly.

“Of course,” Carmen made it sound like it was the most obvious fact in the world. “Well, except my brother, you’re my best school friend.”

“Woah,” Alden sounded like he was a million miles away. “You’a my best fwiend too.”

Luz let go of Alden, Carmen hugged him all the tighter. Both kids were still filthy from whatever happened earlier.  _ I wonder if we have any of Edmund’s old clothes that could fit Alden? I’d hate for him to have to wait for his mom in that but we’ll just have to see. _

“So you started the fight Alden?” the two witchlings stopped hugging. Alden nodded in response to Luz’s question. “What happened?”

“Well, I twew some mud at Nowa,” Alden began, Carmen held his hand as he talked. “Ten Nowa targed at me, we bot went into ta mud. Carmen wan ova and twied to pull me off Nowa. Carmen fell into ta mud. Mrs. Abbott came ovew and magicked us apat.”

“Is that everything that happened?” Luz looked between Carmen and Alden, both children were looking at the ground.

“Well,” Carmen started. “I may have thrown more mud at Nora after Mrs. Abbott pulled us apart.”

“And why did you do that?” Luz’s voice got a little sterner.

“Nora called Diana a baby,” Carmen looked upset. “Diana is not a baby, she just needs her sweater. She said she needs it when things are too much for her.”

_ Does Diana have autism?  _ Luz asked herself as she listened to Carmen.  _ I wonder if they even have a word for it here? _

“After that we went to the Principal’s office,” Carmen continued. “He heard from Nora, Alden and myself, but Diana couldn’t speak. So he decided to send us home. Are we going to be in trouble?”

“Probably,” Luz said, before letting out a sigh and standing up. “You, Alden and Nora will probably get detention or suspension for fighting. Diana won’t be in any trouble though.”

“Tat’s faiw,” Alden mumbled as the trio continued their walk back home.

_ Things finally seemed to be getting better with Edmund _ , Luz lamented,  _ now we’re dealing with- no, not dealing. This isn’t Carmen’s fault that someone is bullying her and her friends. We’re going to have to take bigger action than moving desks. _

Finally the house came into view. Walking into their home this early was weird for Luz. It would be another three hours before Amity and Edmund came home, and probably the same amount of time before Ms. Clark could pick up Alden.

_ Three hours to entertain two 6 year olds, shouldn’t be a problem. _

“Alden,” Luz said as the kids kicked off their mud coated shoes. “I’m going to go upstairs and draw Carmen a bath. While she’s in there I’m going to look through her brother’s old clothes and see if there’s anything that could fit you.”

“Okay,” Alden gave Luz a light smile, before looking around. “Whewe can I sit?”

“Go ahead and sit at the kitchen table, Carmen can grab some art supplies or books or whatever you want to do while I get things ready.”

“Come on!” Carmen grabbed Alden's hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

Luz chuckled as she made her way up the stairs and into the kid’s bathroom. Fiddling with the knobs she was able to get the water to a good temperature. She watched as the bath filled up. 

_ Carmen can take a bath on her own. Can Alden? I couldn’t until I was 7, or maybe I just told myself I couldn’t because I liked it when Mam _ _ á would dump water over my head. _

Luz sighed happily as she turned off the faucet when the tub was just full enough. Walking back into the hall she heard the two children laughing in the dining room. 

“Carmen! Bath’s ready!” Luz called out as she made her way to the spare room where they kept all the old things of Edmund’s. 

“Okay!” Carmen called back. Luz heard her make her way up the stairs and into her room as Luz entered the spare room. 

There wasn’t a lot in the room. A guest bed for when Camila came over and a small dresser was all the furnishings that they usually needed for the room. The rest of the space was taken up by boxes. Some of them had holiday names on the side, others labeled with the kids’ names and ages. They had gone through a good few of these boxes last night looking for Hugh. 

It took Luz a minute to find the box labeled “Edmund 6” in the stack of Edmund boxes. She opened it up, a stack of art work greeting her. A light chuckle escaped Luz’s lips as she looked through them. Water colors paintings, crayon sketches, everything he had done, she tried to save. 

Those feelings of joy turned to sadness just as quickly as she thought of him now. They had made strides already but he wasn’t her baby boy anymore. He was becoming his own person and finally starting to improve. He had friends again, well, one friend but that was better than nothing.

Now that Carmen was starting school this whole thing was starting over again. Soon they’d have a box marked “Carmen 6” that would be full of her art and old clothes. They’d probably never have to go through it unless they moved.

_ I can see why Amity wants to talk about having another kid. Going through these boxes yesterday probably brought back a lot of memories.  _

Under all the art projects were some clothes. Some traditional witch attire and a few human shirts and pants were neatly folded into two piles. Luz grabbed a couple different items from the witch pile. They’d have to wait to see if they’d fit but Luz figured they should fit well enough for now. 

Walking out of the room, Luz knocked on the door to the bathroom.

“How are you doing sweetie?”

“Fine! I’m almost done. The water’s really dirty though.”

“I can imagine,” Luz said with a chuckle. “I’ll change the water before Alden hops in.”

Luz continued downstairs and entered the dining room. Alden was sitting and drawing, extremely focused on his paper.

“Alden,” Luz called softly, the boy looked up, Luz noticed for the first time that his glasses were more than just dirty. The left lens had several cracks in it. The right one was missing a big piece of them. “Alden what happened to your glasses.”

“I…” Alden took off the glasses and put them on the table. “I fell and tey bwoke. Tey can be fixed, I just didn’t want Cawmen to wowy about me.”

“Can I see them?” Luz reached over to them, waiting until Alden nodded before touching them. “Can you see without them?”

“A little, I can see what I’m painting no pwoplem,” Alden returned to his drawing. “You awe a little fuzzy toue.”

Luz was only a few feet away from Alden, his vision was worse than what Luz had imagined. Looking at the glasses, Luz wondered if there was a potential glyph for manipulating glass within them. She would have to use her magnifying glass to take a closer look but for now she decided not to mess around with someone’s stuff. She carefully put them back on the table.

“Once Carmen is done with the bath we’ll go ahead and get you in,” Luz put the clothes on the table. “There were all Edmund’s when he was your age. Hopefully they’ll fit you, if they’re too tight we can look in for something a bit bigger. Can you take a bath on your own?”

“I think so,” Alden gave a nervous smile. “I just need to know where the soap is.”

“Of course kiddo,” Luz rubbed his head. Upstairs a door opened and Carmen came running down the stairs. She was wearing a red Azura T-shirt and some blue jeans.

“I’m all done,” she took a seat across from Alden and picked up a pencil.

“Shall we Alden?” Luz offered him her hand, which he took, and they headed upstairs. Carmen wasn’t lying about the water being dirty, it was almost pitch black from all the mud she got off. Her uniform was in a pile by the door, the sooner Luz got to taking care of them the better. Luz drained the tub and started pointing to bottles on the shower. “These are Carmen’s shampoo and conditioner. Soap is right there, I’ll grab some towels as the tub fills up. I’ll get it to a warm temperature and you can adjust it if you want.”

“Okay,” Alden gingerly touched the water before resting his chin on the tub. Luz walked out and grabbed a towel from the hallway closet. Reentering the bathroom, she turned off the faucet and put the towel on the rack for Alden.

“Do you need anything else?” Alden shook his head. “Okay, I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

Luz exited the bathroom and went back to Carmen. Her brown hair looked much darker from being wet but it had the texture of Amity’s smooth hair to it. She looked at Luz with concern.

“I know I’ll be in trouble at school,” Carmen tapped her pencil on the table nervously. “Will I also be in trouble here?”

“You mom and I will discuss that later,” Luz sat down across next to Carmen. “I think the answer is probably though.”

“Okay,” Carmen looked at her drawing. “Is it because I got into a fight or because I threw a mudball after the fight.”

“A little bit of both I suppose Mija,” Luz said with a sigh. “Though the fight wasn’t really your fault and you were trying to stop it.”

“I was trying to pull Alden off Nora so I could hit her,” Carmen said glumly.

“You WHAT?!” Luz exclaimed.

“I DIDN”T” Carmen shouted back in fear, putting her arms over her head. “I was just so upset with her. What she did to Diana, how she made fun of Alden, she’s just so mean.”

“Mija,” Luz’s voice broke with concern.

“Am I a bad person for wanting to hurt her?” Carmen looked over her paper, teardrops falling onto it, discoloring the white sheet.

“No, no of course not,” Luz reached over and stroked Carmen’s hair. “Being angry with someone is normal, especially being angry with a bully. I’m glad you didn’t hit Nora it’s just… this isn’t how I wanted school to start for you.”

“I know,” Carmen brought her hands down and wiped her eyes. “Were you ever bullied?”

“ Sí ,” Luz thought back to her childhood, her teenage years, her whole life. “I wasn’t what you would call a normal kid.”

“So they made fun of you for that?”

“They…” Luz debated how far she should go. Obviously she wouldn’t go into specifics but Carmen needed to know how bad things could get. “They made fun of me for a lot of things. When I was your age it was because I liked weird things, I would dress funny, I would speak Spanish at random. Then when I got older people found new things to make fun of me over.”

“Did it ever get better?” Carmen looked at Luz, tears still in the corner of her eyes.

“Eventually,” Luz smiled. “Before I came here I just let things slide off me. It didn’t always help but it was better than listening to them. When I started going to Hexside I had Willow and Gus, and eventually Mom, we all supported each other when things got tough. It seems to me that you’ve got good friends already. Now we just need to help you all find ways to avoid fights.”

“Okay,” Carmen smiled weakly at Luz. 

The sound of the bathroom door opening caught Luz’s attention and she watched the stairs as Alden came down. He looked a lot better now that he was cleaned up. Edmund’s old clothes seemed to fit him just fine which was a plus.

“Hey Alden,” Luz gave him a smile as he sat back down. “How was the bath?”

“Fine,” he said cheerfully but still not matching the energy he had when Luz first met him. “I drained the water so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Thank you,” Luz stood up. “I’m going to go ahead and start washing both of your uniforms.’

“Can we have some snacks?” Alden asked as he returned to drawing.

“Sure,” Luz walked into the kitchen and grabbed the container of animal crackers she kept for such occasions. “Crackers okay?”

Both kids nodded and Luz dropped off a few handfuls on the table for them to share. Making one more trip up to the bathroom than down to the basement. Luz examined the clothes, they were unrecognizable as Hexside uniforms.

_ I’ll go ahead and wash them for now, Amity might be able to do something if they don’t clean this way. _

Heading back upstairs after starting the uniforms, a nice quiet greeted Luz. Usually about this time she was teaching Intro to Glyphs to kids Edmund’s age. They were far noisier than this, she found herself apologizing to the teachers she had in high school more often than she wanted to admit. 

_ One hour down _ , Luz glanced at a clock as she headed back into the dining room.  _ This will be a piece of cake. _

  
  



	20. Arguments and Punishments

Amity wasn’t sure if she walked into her home or a war zone. The cushions were off the couch and scattered around the floor. There were toys all over the place, literally everywhere Amity looked there was a stuffed animal, action figure, doll or something that wasn’t supposed to be there. She could hear the sounds of kids talking upstairs, she guessed that it was Carmen and her friend Alden that Luz said would be here.

“Luz?” Amity called into the house as she cautiously walked in. Edmund was right behind her, surveying the carnage before them.

“Amity?!” Luz ran out from the kitchen, hugging her wife. “Thank the titan!”

“What happened?”

“I ran out things to do after an hour and said they could do whatever,” Luz’s eyes were bloodshot and her hair was a mess. “Don’t ever, EVER, let six year olds do whatever they want.”

“Are they okay?” Amity looked towards the stairs in fear. 

“They’re fine,” Luz let go of Amity and opened her arms to hug Edmund. He gave her a hug, albeit reluctantly. “They’re upstairs playing dress-up… or playing doctor. One of those I think.”

Luz released Edmund from her grasp and he made his way upstairs. Amity walked into the living room and started picking up. She couldn’t believe Luz would just let them do whatever-- okay she could believe it, but she thought that at this point Luz would have a little more common sense.

“So do you know what time Alden’s mom will be here to pick him up?” Amity asked as she began to put the cushions back on the couch.

“Well,” Luz got on her knees and began to pick toys up off the floor. “I invited her to dinner and she accepted.”

“That was nice of you,” Amity said, not really paying attention.

“Yeah, she’s a sweet person, a single mother too.”

“I see,” Amity finished off the couch and also got onto the floor to pick things up.

“Earlier today I had to go through Edmund’s old stuff,” Luz paused and chewed on her lip thoughtfully, but Amity kept working.

“Why did you need to do that?” Amity’s arms were filling up with toys quickly.

“Alden needed something to wear after his bath,” Luz reached for Amity’s hand as she grabbed another toy. “Is that why you want to try again?”

“Hmmm?” Amity looked up at Luz, whose face was hard to read at the moment.

“Did going through Edmund’s stuff last night remind you of them when they were babies and it was easier?”

“Easier?” Amity let out a laugh. “I wouldn’t call waking up at midnight to change diapers or feed them easy.”

“You know what I mean,” Luz rolled her eyes. “There weren't all the emotional things to deal with. If Carmen was crying 5 years ago it was because she was hungry, not because people were hurting her.”

“I know,” Amity’s face fell a little as she breathed out heavily. “This wasn’t just something that I thought of out of the blue last night. I’ve been thinking about it for a few months now.”

“And you just decided to mention it last night?” Luz sounded more exhausted than anything.

“I finally had a moment to talk about it last night,” Amity understood where Luz was coming from but she had no right to be upset about it. “We’ve been so busy worrying about Edmund that I didn’t feel like adding this. You two actually had a conversation yesterday, we made progress, I thought it would be okay to mention that I had been thinking about this.”

“It sounded like you were more than thinking about it,” Luz dropped Amity’s hand, her voice turning angrier. “You want this, I know you do.”

“So what if I do?” Amity lowered her volume but began to match Luz’s tone. “There’s a reason I haven’t just gone and done it. We’re partners, on the same team. If you don’t want another member of the team I’d respect that.”

“Thanks for being so considerate,” Luz’s sarcasm did not go unnoticed by Amity. “I’m glad to hear that, coach.”

“What’s your problem?” Amity was getting sick of this, she and Luz had fought before but for it to become toxic so quickly was new. “Why don’t you want to even talk about this? Why is this all my fault? Why are you trying to explain away my feelings as if it’s just a thing that popped into my head?”

“You know why,” Luz went back to gathering toys but Amity stayed focused on Luz.

“No I don’t!” Amity said that louder than she meant to, but she needed to say it. Luz was holding something back and Amity wanted to know what was up with her.

Luz stared at Amity, her lips turned down in a frown and her eyebrows furrowed. Neither spoke for a while, just held eye contact as each waited for the other to speak. Finally Amity caved and let out a sigh.

“Okay, you win,” She stood up with the toys she had picked up already. “You don’t want to have another kid, I won’t mention it again.”

“Do you really think I don’t want another kid?” Luz shot straight up, dropping everything she had in her arms. “I thought you were the smart one!”

“Well you’re sure making it seem like you don’t!”

“It’s not as simple as if I want one or not,” Luz was using her arms to help make her points, and that’s when Amity realized she was really upset. “There’s more to this than what I want.”

“Well I want another,” Amity said in absolution. She thought she’d been on the fence, but the reality was this was what she wanted. Even after all the ups and especially all the downs she wanted to have another child with Luz. “If you don’t say something other than question me about my reasoning for wanting one.”

“Can you just not see the big problem with this family?”

“Obviously not!”

“Me! I’m the problem!” Luz stated it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Edmund getting into trouble, Carmen not being able to do magic, it all traces back to me being a horrible parent.”

“That’s not fair Luz,” Amity dropped everything she had and held Luz’s face in her hands. “Not for me and not for you. You’re a good parent, we’ve just had troubles. Every parent has them, we’re working on improving them though, and that makes all the difference.”

“But I do this all the time,” Luz brought her own hands up to Amity’s. She carefully pulled them down and held them. “Maybe saying I’m a horrible parent isn’t quite right. It just feels like I’m the parent that keeps letting the kids down.”

“That’s not true at all,” Amity squeezed Luz’s hands. “I was turning a blind eye to Edmund for too long. I shouldn’t have made you be the one to deal with all the bad stuff. You can’t blame yourself for everything wrong. I know you want to but that’s not how parenting works, we face whatever happens together.”

They held a pause as Luz gazed into Amity’s eyes. Amity couldn’t tell what Luz was thinking.

“You’ve really been thinking about this for a while?” Luz asked.

“Yeah,” Amity smiled, happy that Luz’s tone was curious rather than upset. “I’ve looked at the numbers and we can afford it. We’ve got the guest room that we can turn into a more permanent room. We can make it work Luz. Just think about it.”

“No, I don’t need to think about it,” Luz let go of one of Amity’s hands, rubbing her eyebrows together.

“I understand,” Amity couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice if she wanted to. She was excited to have this conversation but Luz had made herself clear. Amity loved and respected Luz too much to push this on her. She felt selfish for wanting this but just the thought of having those moments again, that made it worth it.

“Call Viney and set up an appointment,” Amity looked up at Luz, who was smiling. “We’ll need to make sure you’re healthy before we start this whole process again.”

“Luz?” Amity eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it. “Are you serious?”

“Amity, let’s do it,” Luz’s eyes watered, a smile spread across her face. “Let’s have another kid.”

Amity pulled Luz over to her, spinning around the living room, lifting Luz just off the floor with the force of the motion. Both witches laughed before falling onto the couch together. Foreheads pressed together, Amity closed her eyes, enjoying the sound of them laughing, the warmth of Luz pressed against her, everything.

“It’s okay if you don’t want this Luz,” Amity opened her eyes and gazed into Luz’s soft brown ones. “Really, I’m happy right now with you, Edmund and Carmen.”

“I know you are,” Luz leaned over and kissed Amity on the forehead. “I am too. This is something you want though. I’m scared but as long as we’re doing this together I’ll be okay.”

A knock on the door drew both of their attention. Luz stood up to open as Amity returned to finally pick the toys off the ground. A woman, a few years older than they were, came inside. She wore a friendly smile but was clearly nervous.

“Hi Luz,” she said as she took off her shoes. “Thank you so much for watching Alden.”

“It was no problem Isla,” Luz ushered Isla into the living room. “He was absolutely wonderful to have over. They had a lot of fun together, that’s for sure.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Isla sat down on the couch, letting out a massive sigh. “I was so worried when Bump called, I was just lucky that I was on break otherwise there was no way I would have been able to take the call.”

“It was no problem,” Luz put her hands on Amity’s shoulders as she finally picked up the last of the toys. “This is my wife, Amity.”

“Pleased to meet you Isla,” Amity held out a free hand to shake Isla’s. “I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about your son.”

“Thanks,” Isla's own hand is shaking before she grasps Amity’s. “It’s really an honor to be here.”

Isla looked around the room, her nervous energy showing no sign of leaving. Luz sat down next to Isla. She gestured for Amity to sit next to her, which she did.

“Before we call the kids down,” Luz reached for Amity’s hand, she had no objections to holding it. “I thought we should discuss what happened today between us as parents.”

“Sure,” Isla nodded and forced her smile a little wider. “All principal Bump said was that they fought with Nora, did they tell you more?”

“They did,” Luz nodded, her expression greying over. “Nora was the one that started everything but Alden was the first to physically attack.”

“Oh Titan,” Isla buried her head into her hands.

“We’re going to meet with Bump and the other families involved after school on Monday,” Luz’s thumb drew circles on the back of Amity’s hand as she talked. “I’m not sure what the punishment will be but I’m sure that both are kids are going to get something. Nora probably will too, though it’ll be hard to prove that she was the one that took Diana’s sweater.”

“But Alden was the one that started fighting,” Isla was tearing up and sniffling. “How did Carmen get involved?”

“She rushed in to help him,” Luz explained. “Then she was the last one to throw a mud ball. I know they’re going to be punished at school but I think, over the weekend, we need to do something ourselves. Even if it was over a friend, fighting should never be the answer.”

“You’re right,” Isla wiped her eyes and looked up at Luz and Amity. “What were you thinking?”

“Well,” Amity chimed in. “There’s grounding them, extra chores, and my parents would… think of other things.”

“I think I’ll have Alden do extra chores,” Isla looked out the living room windows. “He needs to do those anyway to get ready for Sunday anyway.”

“What’s going on Sunday?” Amity raised an eyebrow. Luz slapped her head lightly.

“Ay soy un idiota! I forgot to tell you Tuesday because of everything that happened. Carmen was invited to Alden’s birthday party on Sunday. I suppose her punishment could be not going but that-“

“Absolutely not,” Amity was quick to shut that down. “She’ll do extra chores around here on Saturday but she’s going to that party. Will the rest of their friends be there?”

Isla nodded in response to her question.

“That settles it,” Amity stood up, still holding Luz’s hand. “I’ll go grab the kids and we’ll tell them what we’ve decided.”

Luz let go of Amity’s hand and watched as she made her way upstairs. She could hear voices coming from Carmen’s room as she got closer. They were quiet but still Amity could tell they were having fun. She knocked on the door.

“Come in!” Carmen called from inside the room. Amity opened the door and poked her head inside. Carmen had her doctor’s coat on and a toy stethoscope around her neck. The boy, lying on the floor with a sword tucked under his armpit and wearing a knight’s breastplate, Amity guessed was Alden.

“Hey honey,” Amity said softly. “Can you and Alden come downstairs?”

“Yeah, come on Alden,” Carmen’s voice dropped a little but she held onto her smile as she helped her friend up from the floor.

“What game were you kids playing?” Amity asked as they exited the room.

“Doctor Princess,” Carmen said matter of factly. “Alden was dying because he hurt himself trying to help meso I had to save him.”

“I was hit by appendicitis,” Alden didn’t sound too proud of his fictional blow.

“I see,” the three made their way down the stairs. Amity resumed sitting on the couch. Alden gave his mother a quick hug before stepping back.

“Kids,” Luz started, her teacher's voice coming through. “We’re very disappointed in you. Even if Nora was being mean, violence is never the answer. I know it’s easy to want to hit things but we need to show self-control.”

Both kids nodded silently as they braced for whatever came next. Carmen’s hand went to Alden’s, clasping their hands together.

“We’ve decided that you’re going to be punished,” Luz continued. “Tomorrow you’re both going to do extra chores. No complaining or arguing.”

“Okay,” Carmen looked up at Luz and Amity, sad but accepting of her punishment.

“We’a still going to have my biwtday on Sunday wight?” Alden sounded like there was a real possibility of it not happening.

“Of course love,” Isla smiled and Alden let out a breath he had been holding in.

“We’ll still be going too,” Luz looked at Carmen to reassure her. Carmen smiled and let go of Alden’s hand. 

“See,” Carmen gave Alden a nudge. “I told you they weren’t going to cancel your birthday.”

“I knew tat,” Alden smiled, relieved because he obviously was worried about that happening. “Can we go back to playing?”

“Sure,” Amity looked over to Luz. “We’ll take care of dinner so we’ll call you both downstairs when it’s done.”

The kids ran off, leaving the adults alone again.

“So,” Amity stood up. “If you have no complaints, I’m going to make dinner.”

“You don’t need to do that!” Luz stood up quickly and moved in front of Amity to keep her out of the kitchen. “I’ve been getting everything ready for pica pollo and tostones. No need for you to be in the kitchen.”

“Oh, so everything is ready then?”

“Just need to fry it and then-”

“If that’s all then I can handle it Luz,” Amity grabbed Luz’s shoulders and sat her back on the couch. “You’ve been dealing with the kids all day so making supper is the least I can do. It’s just frying things and I’m sure I can manage.”

Luz opened her mouth like she was about to list off the many things that could go wrong but Amity chose to go ahead and enter the kitchen. Sure enough, everything was ready to go. Amity stretched out her knuckles as she gazed around the kitchen.

_ Alright Amity _ , Amity thought as she looked through the pans for one suitable for the task at hand,  _ you’re going to make a human dish and not ruin it for Luz. She’s going to be surprised and do the thing where she speaks in Spanish out of joy. It’s going to be adorable and the food will be delicious. All you need to do is heat up the oil and put things in it. Easy as pie. _

10 minutes later and Luz was letting loose a string of expletives in Spanish as the two worked to put out the grease fire Amity started.


	21. A Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have anything to say this week. I've had some writers block on the last chapter but it will be finished by Sunday. Have a good week, stay safe, be gay and do witchcraft everyone!

Edmund was doing something rather unusual for himself. He sat in his room at his desk and worked out the formula for an abomination according to what Mr. Blanc had instructed. His notebook sat open and he was doing some rather tedious calculations all in the name of homework. Listening to an album called  _ A Boy Named Goo  _ seemed fitting for the task at hand, Edmund made a note to ask Abuela if she could keep an eye out for more stuff by the band, also named after goo, the next time he visited.

Double checking what he had written, Edmund was actually proud of what he’d come up with. He’d need to work on other assignments soon but those would have to wait. One of the sheets Maggie had given him specified that he should make “S.M.A.R.T.” goals to help improve his academic performance. He’d never been a F student but his actions definitely lowered his grades down to C average at best.

Looking back at the sheet, which he pinned to his wall to help mark and measure his growth, he had written in the first step area: Get an A in one class this semester. Edmund made the choice early on that it should be abominations that he would devote himself to. He planned on doing work for his other classes and getting those grades up, but he wanted to show mom and mamá that he was trying. Improving his scores in the class that they shared seemed like a good way to do that.

Edmund pushed his swivel chair out from his desk and got up, formulas in hand. The house was fairly quiet for a Saturday. Carmen and Luz were outside doing yard work as part of Carmen’s punishment for the fight she was in. When Edmund had heard from mom that Carmen had gotten into a fight he was more shocked than angry, though he was plenty angry with Nora. Carmen fighting was so outside the realm of possibility for Edmund he never even thought it would happen.

_ I should talk to her _ , Edmund thought as he walked out of his room,  _ have her hear from the resident fighter about not fighting. Oh crap! Did she do this because of what I do?! _

At the bottom of the stairs, Edmund found Amity sitting on the couch, reading a parenting magazine. 

_ Must be for Carmen, though it looks like it might be more about babies and toddlers. _

“Hey Mom,” Edmund held out his abomination formulas near her. “If you’ve got a minute, would you mind looking over these for me?”

“Sure,” Amity put the magazine to the side and took the notes from him. She narrowed her eyes in focus, letting out the occasional hum as she looked them over. “Is this for class, or something else?”

“Class,” Edmund nodded. “One of my goals is to get an A in a class so I’m trying to do well in abominations.”

“Why not get an A in every class?” Amity didn’t look up from the notes. “With that big brain of yours you could ace everything no problem.”

“Maggie said I need to set reasonable expectations for myself,” Edmund said with a shrug. “I called her last night to ask about this goal and she said it was a great start. I’ll be adding more goals over time too.”

“I see,” Amity handed Edmund back the notebook. “Well, for a basic abomination performing manual labor, it should work fine. If you’re looking to really dazzle, I'd recommend adding another arm for multitasking. Otherwise it’ll depend on your control to get an A.”

“Another arm huh?” Edmund looked at the notes. “I think I can manage that. Anything else?”

“Practice summoning it before class,” Amity picked her magazine back up. “Do not try to do it the day you’re presenting. I’ve spent entire weeks working on just one trick before. I know you’ve been using them a lot, but having an abomination hit someone isn’t the same as holding a cup of tea.”

Edmund was about to say he didn’t just use them for fights but realized that would have been a lie. “You’re right.”

“I know I am,” Amity flicked the magazine back open. “I’m proud of you sweetie.”

“Thanks mom,” Edmund was about to go back upstairs but his scroll vibrated. He summoned it and checked to see who was calling him. Unsurprisingly, it was the only person who had his number outside of his family or therapist.

“Hey Maple, what’s up?” Edmund asked, noticing Amity shift a little so she could hear them better.

“Hey Edmu- I’m on a call Phineas! Get out!” Edmund pulled the scroll away from his ear as she screamed at her step-dad. “Sorry, are you busy?”

“I’m working on homework righ-”

“Great! I am too, spelling again and I need help,” Maple made it sound like she wasn’t just screaming in his ear five seconds ago. “Can we meet up and work on stuff?”

“Umm,” Edmund did a quick mental rundown of everything he wanted to do. “Let me check with my mom.”

“Yeah of course,” Edmund could practically hear her nodding through the phone. “Just call me right back, okay?”

“You-” Before he could tell her to hold on, Maple hung up. Edmund let out a sigh and turned back around to face Amity. A wide grin was on her face as she pretended her focus was on the magazine in front of her. “Mom, can I go study with Maple?”

Amity flipped a page as she pondered the question.

“I suppose so,” Amity didn’t even look up as she answered. “Just make sure you’re home before dinner. Also let your Mamá and sister know so they don’t worry.”

“You know Carmen’s going to tease me,” Edmund didn’t know why Carmen teasing him affected him as much as it did. She was just being a little kid, and thought it was funny that Edmund and Maple were close. “Mamá is going to get all weird about it too.”

“For the first time in five years you have a friend,” Amity looked over at Edmund with a sly smile on her face. “It’s not our fault she happens to be our best friend’s daughter and is a sweet, kind, funny-”

“Okay I get it,” Edmund made his way back to his room to quickly grab his bag and homework. As he packed he called Maple. “Hey Maple, I can go.”

“Great!” she practically screamed into the scroll. “I usually go to this cafe/bakery near the market, want to meet by Eda’s stand and I can show you where it is?”

“Sure,” Edmund clasped his satchel shut. “I’ll see you there.”

Edmund headed back downstairs, grabbing his shoes from the hall and sliding them on. He gave Amity a hug.

“I love you mom.”

“I know you do honey,” Amity said as she hugged him back. “Now go have fun with your friend.”

Edmund exited the house from the back. Carmen and Luz sat in the small garden they kept. Surprisingly human vegetables did well here, so long as they covered them before boiling rain hit. The two were bending over pulling weeds out of the ground. Carmen held a trowel as she struggled with a weed.

“Hey guys,” Edmund said as he approached them. “I’m going to help Maple with some homework.”

“¡Oh cariño!” Luz stood up and gave him a hug. “¡Mi caballero está ayudando a su amiga!”

“Basta Mamá!” Edmund hugged her back as he rolled his eyes. “It’s just homework.”

“I know,” Luz let go off Edmund. “It’s just nice to see you hanging out with friends.”

“Yeah yeah,” Edmund walked over to Carmen. “I’ll be back before dinner, we should have a chat soon okay?”

“O-K!” Carmen struggled before the weed finally came out of the ground. She fell onto the ground as the force of her own pull threw her off balance. She picked herself up and hugged Edmund. “Have fun on your date.”

“It’s not a date hermana,” Edmund explained hugging Carmen back. The thought of him even asking her was so ridiculous. There was no way she’d say yes. Still a quick mental image of the two sitting and laughing at a restaurant entered Edmund’s head. It was nice. “I’m just helping her.”

“Okay,” Carmen flashed Edmund a toothy grin.

_ She has more teeth than I do. _

“I think you’ve done enough work in the garden,” Luz said straightening out and dusting off her jeans. “I have to go to the human realm for an errand. We might eat with Abuela if she's not working but I need to stop by the library there to check on something. Amity and Carmen will be here when you get back.”

“Can I please go Mamá?” Carmen pleaded. “I promise that I’ll do a lot of chores before bed.”

“No mija,” Luz said sternly. “It’s either library today or Alden’s birthday tomorrow, letting you do both would hardly be punishment.”

“Fine,” Carmen whined as she headed back into the house.

“On that note,” Edmund gave Luz a salute with his index and middle finger.

“See you tonight, have fun, please be nice to Maple, she’s such a sweetheart!”

“UGGGGGH Mamá!” Edmund pivoted around and walked backwards away from Luz. “¡Solo vamos a estudiar!”

Luz just smiled and waved as Edmund left. It was a 20 minute walk to Eda’s stand she operated on the weekends. It became something of a tourist attraction now that she and Luz were famous. It was the only spot on the Boiling Isles witches could get officially licensed “Human Memorabilia” which mainly was just garbage Eda found stamped with an image of Luz giving a thumbs up.

There wasn’t much of a crowd around the stand today. Edmund didn’t complain too much at that, it would give him a chance to talk to Auntie Eda about how things were going. As Edmund approached he could see both her and King at the stand. She was leaning on the small table that held the merch, head resting on her arm as King lay sleeping. The entire market seemed less busy than usual. Eda caught a glance at Edmund as he approached and she gave him a lazy smile and wave.

“Well well well, look what the griffin dragged in,” Eda leaned over the table to hug her nephew. “How you doing kid?”

“Better,” Edmund answered honestly. “We started counseling and it’s… good I guess, just one session so far but I think it’s already helping.”

“Well, what do you know,” Eda ruffled Edmund’s hair. “Our little troublemaker is already getting out of his bad boy phase.”

“Please,” Edmund laughed. “I’m not out of the woods yet. It’s just a promising start is all.”

“Baby steps,” Eda nodded reassuringly, as if she knew anything about taking baby steps. “What about what we talked about?”

“That’s actually kinda why I’m-”

“Edmund!” Maple shouted from across the market. She sprinted up to Eda’s stall, having to bend over and catch her breath. Eda looked at the witchling confused.

“Do I know this weirdo?” Eda said, slowly reaching for some merch to sell.

“Yeah, this is Willow’s daughter, Maple,” Edmund shook his head at Eda, who put down the Luz the Human T-shirt she was going to try and hock. “We’ve been hanging out recently.”

“Yeah,” Maple said between gasps for air. “It’s kind of funny. At first he wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Sounds about right--?” Eda paused as Edmund shot her a dirty look. “What? You weren’t swarming with friends were you?”

“So I blackmailed him to hang out with me,” Maple stood upright, pushing some loose hair out of her face.

“Great way to make friends,” Eda said with a snort. 

“Then I saved him from getting killed and now we’re best friends,” Maple said, blushing at that last part.

“Are we best friends?” Edmund asked, instantly regretting the way he said it. “I mean I’m fine if that’s the case, it’s just that we only started hanging out again this week.”

Maple shrugged, before seeing King and walking over to look at the sleepy demon.

“It’s not like we have any other friends to be besties with,” Maple said as she started petting King. “If you don’t want to label it that’s fine, I just think saying I have a best friend is better than saying I have an only friend.”

“Sorry Maple,” Edmund quietly hit himself on the forehead. “You’re right, we’re best friends, I’m just still new to this.”

“It’s okay,” Maple shot him a friendly smile. “I am too you know… oh my gosh he’s so soft.”

“I use conditioner,” King said as he rolled over. “Now please get the belly, Eda doesn’t give good belly rubs.”

Maple turned to look at Eda, her eyes big as she kept petting King.

“Is there any way you’ll let me adopt him?”

“Nope, that little fuzz ball is family,” Eda said with a smile. “Though it looks like you two are-”

“No!” Edmund grabbed Maples’ free hand and started pulling her away from the stand. “Not listening to this again.”

“Well have fun doing-” Eda let out a barely suppressed cackle. “Best friend stuff!”

“Ay dios mio,” Edmund rolled his eyes, turning to look at Maple and hoping he wasn’t blushing. “I’m sorry, Eda likes to tease. So do my moms and Carmen. They think we’re a couple for some reason.”

“Oh, well that’s ridiculous,” Maple said with a laugh, before realizing what she said. “I mean, not that dating you would be bad. It would be nice. Not that I would be nice dating you. I would be nice, but dating you would be not nice for me… I’m going to shut up.”

Maple’s face turned red and she looked to the ground. Her grip on Edmund’s hand tightened just a little more, and if Edmund’s face wasn’t flushed before it was now. They walked for a few minutes before Edmund realized he had no idea where he was going.

“Hey Maple, where is that cafe?” He finally managed to ask. She looked up, her face still a little colored but not nearly as bad as it was before.

“Oh, um,” Maple looked around. “We’re not too far actually. Go down this road a little and take a left and we’ll run into it.”

“Cool,” Edmund started walking, realizing after a block that they were still holding hands. Edmund’s first instinct was to let go. They had no need to hold hands and it’s not like they needed to guide each other to a cafe.

Still, holding her hand felt... right. It was soft, but there were still some callouses from, well, Edmund didn’t actually know. What did Maple do in her freetime? She had spoken about herself nonstop for three days after they reconnected but Edmund had tuned her out then. 

“Hey, what do you do?” Edmund glanced behind him to ask her.

“What do you mean?” Maple looked confused by his question. “Like, what do I want to do or what I’m currently doing?”

“I mean, for fun?” Edmund felt his hand getting warmer from embarrassment. Why was this suddenly so hard? He was able to talk to her fine the past two days, but suddenly he felt like he couldn’t ask a simple question without sounding like a moron.

“Well,” Maple looked down as they continued on. “There’s my pets that I’ve mentioned before, you met Salazar. I also read a lot about demons and beasts. I’ve got so many books and newspapers about them that I have a separate bookshelf in one of Mom’s studies for them all.”

“That’s… wow,” Edmund avoided looking at Maple. 

She was so passionate about Beast Keeping it kind of scared him. Years of putting off schoolwork and not caring about his studies had really left Edmund unsure what he actually wanted to do in the future. He had figured he would take over Eda’s business but he realized that didn’t really want to sell products with his mom’s face stamped on them. He could learn to make potions too but that would require some more effort in school.

“I also knit,” Maple continued on, unable to see Edmund’s face. “Mostly hats and scarves but someday I want to make sweaters.”

“How long have you been knitting?” Edmund asked sheepishly.

“For about four years now,” Maple sounded embarrassed by this. “I’ve made over a hundred hats and just as many scarves. I mostly give them away but I’ve got quite a collection at home. If you wanted I could make you one.”

“That’d be nice,” a warm feeling washed over Edmund at the thought of getting anything from Maple.

_ What is wrong with me? I think everyone else is getting in my head about Maple. Making me look for signs that aren’t there. There’s no way she’d like me as more than a friend. She’s too smart for that. I’m nothing but trouble and she’s determined, passionate, warm, cute.... _

Edmund shook his head.  _ No! She’s just your friend and that’s it.  _

“You should also make one for Carmen,” Edmund added. “She’d love that.”

“I could make matching ones for your whole family,” Maple said brightly, Edmund guessed she was already planning what those would look like. “It’d be adorable, during the winter you’d all be wearing these hats and people would be able to tell from a mile away you’re a family and look so cute-- Uh, look cute as a family that is.”

“I mean, probably not as cute as you,” Edmund heard a sharp intake of air from Maple. Rolling his eyes at himself he turned around. “I mean cute as in the hats, sorry, I’ve just got a lot of homework I’m worried about.”

“It’s okay,” Maple gave him a small smile but Edmund could tell there was something else behind it. Maple looked past Edmund and pointed at the street in front of them. “The cafe’s right down there so we’ll just grab drinks and get started.”

“Great,” they started walking again, Edmund realized that in the last few minutes they had let go of each other's hands. He hadn’t even noticed but he missed it. Just having that bit of contact with someone else was so comforting. Or maybe it wasn’t just that it was someone else, but her.

They got into the cafe, ordered drinks and sat down to work. Edmund had tried to focus on his work for Runes but found himself constantly distracted the smallest things Maple did. How she always moved her hair before she took a sip. The way she twirled her pencil between her fingers when she was stuck on a question. Edmund answered more questions for her work than he did his own. 

They parted ways after a few hours. No matter what Edmund did, he couldn’t get Maple out of his head. As he lay in bed, unable to sleep, a single thought echoed in Edmund’s mind.

_ I think I like Maple, and there’s no way she likes me back. _


	22. Things to do and People to Avoid

Sunday morning rolled around and the Blight-Nocedas were rushing around. Carmen couldn’t decide on an outfit to wear. She wanted to look nice because her friends were going to be there but she also wanted to play with them. Amity was struggling to find a middle ground as a pile of clothes continued to grow next to her.

“How about this one?” Carmen held out a pink sweater, purple skirt and blue leggings.

“I think that would look very-”

“Or there’s this!” Carmen threw the clothes she was holding down and grabbed a white t-shirt, orange button up shirt and pink denim pants.

“If that’s what you-”

“Or I could just wear these!” Carmen pulled out one last outfit of black jeans, grey Azura t-shirt and purple hoodie.

_ I’m so going to regret wanting more kids aren’t I?  _ Amity ran her hands through her hair as Carmen went through another two outfits. She was about to snap when her scroll’s ringtone sounded.

“One second sweetie,” Amity stood up. “I might need to take this.”

Carmen nodded as she started going through the pile of clothes she made to see if any of the outfits were actually the right one. Amity walked over to her and Luz’s room, shutting the door behind her. She had asked Viney to call her so she could ask about setting up an appointment for a physical. The discretion was necessary as Emira, Amity’s sister and Viney’s wife, would listen in to any call if she knew Amity was on the other side. Luz and Amity weren’t even sure if they could have another kid so they didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.

Amity took a look at the caller ID, one word: Dad.

_ He never calls back _ , Amity put the phone down next to her,  _ you either call him back or… there is no or. Why is he trying to reconnect with me now? He’s had years, almost decades now, to try and actually be a part of this family.  _

The usual anger Amity felt towards her parents gave way to something else. Her father was calling her again, but he had given her some space between those calls for her to want to respond. For as much as she wanted to be upset, a new sense of hope was there. Maybe after all these years they had finally changed.

_ Not they _ , Amity reminded herself,  _ if this was both of them Dad wouldn’t be calling from his scroll number but from the home number. Either mom doesn’t want a part of this or Dad is going behind her back. _

The call dropped and Amity waited to see if he’d leave a message. A minute passed and nothing. Amity sighed and was about to get up when the scroll started ringing again. Same caller ID. Amity was tempted to answer it but if he actually wanted to say anything, leaving a message would be the first step she’d accept. She was pulled out of her train of thought by a soft knock on the door. Luz poked her head in and walked over.

“Hey, Carmen’s still not dressed, what-” Luz saw the scroll and the name on it. Luz silently sat next to Amity and held her hand as they waited for the call to end. It did, once again no message was left.

“He called on Thursday too,” Amity said as she picked up the scroll. “I didn’t answer it then either. If he has something to say he can start with a message.”

Luz didn’t say anything, nor did she have to. Their history of dealing with Amity’s parents wasn’t something either liked to discuss. 

“We should get ready for the party,” Luz said, wearing a hollow smile. “If you don’t want to go I understand.”

“Nope,” Amity stood up and walked out the room. “Not letting him ruin my day. He did that enough my entire life.”

Amity walked back into Carmen’s room. The girl was still debating on what to wear but seemed to have narrowed her choices down.

“Hi mom,” Carmen said as Amity looked at the choices. “Which one-”

“This one,” Amity said, pointing to a plaid button up shirt, red t-shirt and blue jeans. “You’ll look cute and you can get it a little dirty without ruining it.”

“Okay!” Carmen grabbed the clothes and ran into the bathroom to get ready.

Amity drew a spell circle and watched as the rest of the clothes flew back into drawers and onto hangers. She walked out of the room to be met with Luz frowning at her.

“You’re upset,” Luz said simply. Amity ignored her and walked over to Edmund’s room, she rapped on the door and walked in.

“Edmund!” She shouted at the sleeping teenager. He jolted up, looking around the room. “We’re leaving in 30 minutes. If you’re not up by then say goodbye to your scroll. If you can’t use it responsibly then you don’t deserve it.”

“Hmmmm?” Edmund moaned questioningly.

“You heard me!” Amity slammed the door shut and walked back into her room. She stood in the middle of the room, not sure why she even came in here in the first place. A few seconds later Luz followed her.

“Okay, you know I normally like it when you get bossy but you need to calm down,” Luz walked over and started massaging Amity’s shoulders. She could feel the tension leaving her body but the feelings of frustration remained.

“Why did he have to call now?” Amity stretched out her neck and rolled her shoulders as Luz continued. “We had a great system in place. They would leave us alone, we’d leave them alone.”

“I can’t imagine what it’s like,” Luz took her hands off Amity’s shoulders and wrapped them around her middle. “Do you know if Em and Ed still talk to them?”

“Ed does,” Amity closed her eyes and leaned into Luz. “Em hasn’t for a while since they refused to attend her wedding.”

“Emira really thought they’d come if they knew we were there,” Luz murmured.

“She thought they loved her enough to do that. I thought they did too but, surprise, the heartless monsters that couldn’t care to remember my birthday or sexuality didn’t remember they were supposed to be there for their family.”

“Em looked so happy that day too,” Luz’s voice cracked a little. “You were up there with her and Ed. Edmund dropped all of his flowers next to Mami because he wanted her to be the next one to get married.”

“Em was crying before the ceremony because they didn’t show up,” Amity pulled Luz’s arms off her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m ignoring him today. If he calls again he’s going to have to deal with all three of his kids before he can even talk about you and the kids.”

“I can be there too you know,” Luz gave Amity her best supportive smile.

“I know, but if he’s going to be a part of all our kid’s lives,” Amity's arm reached across her stomach. There was nothing there yet but everytime she thought about having another kid she got butterflies. “Then he needs to make things right with his own children. Now I’m going to finish getting ready for this party.”

It took the family another 30 minutes of scrambling around before they were ready to leave. Edmund was staying behind to work on homework. He seemed distracted as they left, but Amity chalked it up to him not being used to studying. Carmen was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to meet her new friends, but he had a solution for that.

“Your birthday is coming up next month,” Edmund reminded her. “We should invite them over here for that.”

“Can we?!” Carmen looked up hopefully at Luz and Amity.

“I think that’s a great idea Edmund,” Luz said with a nod and smile. “I know you’ll be busy with homework and stuff but if you have sometime can you work on dishes?”

“If I have time I’ll try,” Edmund said with a shrug. 

Luz looked like she wanted more than that but didn’t say anything else.

“We’ll be back later,” Amity said as they headed out the door. “Love you!”

“I know,” Edmund said with a smile and wave.

The flight to the party was uneventful and short. The Clark’s lived in the heart of Bonesborough, in a split home without a yard. Knocking on the door, Amity was worried they might be in the wrong place because she couldn’t hear anything. Luckily Isla came to the door with a grin.

“Hello Luz, Amity, Carmen, come in!”

They entered the home, it was small by any standard but not cramped. There wasn’t a lot in the house outside of some furniture and photos. A small bookshelf sat in the living room but it wasn’t even half-full. There were a few pairs of shoes on the ground in the hall.

“Diana and Basil are here already,” Isla looked around the room. “We’re playing hide and seek right now and I’m… not very good at it.”

“Don’t you live here?” Carmen asked looking around. “Shouldn’t you know where people hide?”

Isla let out a laugh.

“Well we just moved here and I haven’t had a chance to really get to know the space,” Isla walked back over to the room she had come from. “I’ve been busy at work or helping Alden with homework or taking him to speech therapy.”

“Does his speech get into fights?” Carmen’s question made Luz and Amity catch themselves before they laughed.

“No Carmen,” Amity put her hand on her shoulder. “It’s to help him learn to speak normally.”

“I like how Alden speaks though,” Carmen looked genuinely upset at that.

“I do too,” Isla called from somewhere else. “But he needs to learn how to properly speak, otherwise people are going to have a hard time understanding him.”

“I can understand him just fine,” Carmen said quietly. Amity couldn’t blame her for not wanting Alden to change. It sounded like all of her friends understood what it was like to be different. If Alden lost the thing that made him different Carmen would certainly worry he no longer wanted to be her friend. Amity knew that wouldn’t be true but before she could reassure her they heard something from across the house.

“Found you!” Isla declared somewhere in the home. “Go say hi to Carmen.”

“Cawmen’s hewe! Guys, Carmen is hewe!”

The sound of various doors opening and closing was followed by the sound of children running. Soon the hall was filled with Carmen’s friends. Amity couldn’t but smile as Alden skidded to a front in front of Carmen. She walked up and wrapped him in a hug.

“Happy birthday Alden!” Carmen said as two other children rounded the corner.

“Hello Carmen,” said a lizard like witch. The other witch silently waved at Carmen, who waved back while still hugging Alden.

“Hey guys,” Carmen let go of Alden and gestured behind her to Amity and Luz. “These are my parents.”

“Hello,” Luz waved. “You’ve seen me before around school, I’m Luz.”

“I’m Amity,” Amity looked at the two new children and could already tell why Carmen liked them so much. Basil was smiling at both of them with each of his eyes looking in different directions. Diana was just behind Basil, holding onto a sweater. Though not looking at anyone, she gave of a friendly feel and was clearly happy to be there. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“This is Basil,” Carmen walked over to the lizard, giving him a side hug. “He’s awesome!”

“Hello Luzzz, Amity,” Basil said, offering his hand, which both witches took turns shaking. “It’sss niccce to meet you.”

“And this is Diana,” Carmen looked at Diana, who nodded before Carmen hugged her. “She’s one of the smartest people in our class.”

“Hello,” Diana kept a hold of the sweater while Carmen hugged her. She also avoided looking at the two witches. “I really like being Carmen’s friend.”

“Well that’s sweet to hear,” Amity said.

“Cawmen, can we keep playing Doctor Pwincess?” Alden asked. “Now tat Basil and Diana awe hewe we can make up chawactaws fo tem!”

“Oh my Titan yes!” Carmen let go of Diana. “We could use a villain, but having more knights would be good too.”

“I can play a villain.” Basil said confidently. “As long as we don’t get too rough.”

“I’m not sure I want to be a knight,” Diana said softly. “Or a villain, I can just sit out.”

“No way,” Alden said. “We’ll find someting for you.”

“Hmmm,” Carmen brought her fist up to her mouth as she thought. “You could be a princess, or a doctor, or a nurse like my Abuela.”

“Nurse would be fine.”

“Alright!” Carmen exclaimed. “Where are we going to play?”

“Follow me, we can play in my woom,” the children moved out of the hall. Isla came in from the hall, hugging a wall as the kids ran past her.

“Please be careful,” Isla called out as the sound of a door shutting sounded. “Thank you guys so much for being here.”

“It’s no problem,” Luz waved it off. “I’m a little surprised none of the other parents are here.”

“They were busy,” Isla gave a stress filled laugh. “I knew you’d be coming and staying so it was fine. It’s just hard to take care of so many kids at once.”

“We’re happy to lend a hand,” Amity took off her shoes and stepped further into the house. “What can we do?”

“Lunch is just going to be sandwiches,” Amity noted the way Isla said that. There was a hint of shame behind it. “I made a cake, nothing fancy just chocolate cake.”

“That’s fine Isla,” Luz reassured her. “Nothing wrong with sandwiches and cake.”

“Well, if you don’t mind giving me a hand,” Isla turned and walked away from the two. “We’ve got sandwiches to make.”

The kitchen was much smaller than anything Amity had ever been in. There would be room for Isla and Luz to move around but only just. So instead of working there, Isla brought the ingredients to the small kitchen table. Amity took the time to ask Isla a little bit about herself

“There’s not a lot to say unfortunately,” Isla said with a nervous laugh. “I used to live a lot farther from the city. I went to Glandus and graduated in the potions track. I worked for a market witch for a few years before I opened my own stand. I met Alden’s father and we came here.”

“Is Alden’s father no longer in the picture?”

Isla shook her head, taking off her glasses so that she could wipe her eyes. 

“No, but it wasn’t his fault,” Isla finished off making another sandwich. “He was part of the construction coven and I was working for a potion supplier. It was just the two of us for years and we were fine with that. Then six years ago I found out Alden was coming. I waited all day to tell him the good news but…”

Isla stared blankly at the bread in front of her. Luz reached over and patted her hand.

“You don’t need to talk about it if it’s too hard.”

Isla nodded in gratitude, taking a second to wipe her eyes again.

“He didn’t leave us much, and we never had much anyways,” Isla continued on, Amity could hear the pain she was trying to hide. “I don’t have family over here but I couldn’t move back without losing my job so we made the best of it.”

“I’d say you still did a great job,” Amity couldn’t imagine having to hold down a job and raise Edmund or Carmen without Luz. Life without Luz was impossible to imagine for Amity. Isla was a truly amazing person to be doing so much.

“Thanks,” Isla put her glasses back on. “Birthdays are special, I’ve made sure to get them off to be with him. We’ve never had an actual party before. He’d go to daycare but he prefers reading in the corner to talking to others. He was teased for his speech impediment a lot.”

“I know what that’s like,” Luz mumbled to herself as she finished making the last of the seven sandwiches. “My mom worked a lot during my childhood so I was in daycare too. Every other girl wanted to play dolls or house, I wanted to look for slugs or pretend to be a knight.”

“Was you mom a single mother too?” Isla asked, eyes widening when Luz nodded. “How did she do it? How did she balance everything?”

“Honestly, you’re doing pretty well,” Luz pulled out her phone and looked through the photos. Finding on when she was younger with Camila and showing it to Isla. “She always felt like she wasn’t doing enough for me but I never minded. I could see how hard she was trying. Even when we fought I knew she loved me.”

“Thanks Luz,” Isla examined the photo, smiling at it. “I suppose we should call the kids over. We’ll eat lunch, open presents, then cake.”

“Sounds like a plan stan,” Luz smiled but Isla just looked confused.

“Who is-”

“It’s a human saying,” Amity explained with a laugh. “Actually it might just be Luz who says that. It’s hard to remember sometimes.”

“Nah, I make up stuff like: talk to the glyph witch!” Luz leaned onto Amity’s shoulder. “Just one of the many things you love about me.”

Amity rolled her eyes and playfully shoved Luz. Isla gave a friendly chuckle at their antics, though it was offset by a sigh.

“You two are so lucky,” Isla looked between them. Both Amity and Luz’s faces fell, but Isla smiled and waved her hand at them. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bring down the mood. I haven’t been able to talk to adults my age about kids before, in fact it’s been a while since I’ve talked to people my age period.”

“Well, you and Alden are always welcome at our house,” Luz said with a smile.

“I… thank you Luz,” Isla stood up and moved around Luz and Amity. “I’m going to grab the kids for lunch.”

“Sorry for inviting her over whenever,” Luz whispered to Amity. “I just know how hard it can be being a single parent and working so much.”

“It’s okay,” Amity pulled Luz in and gave her a kiss. “I would’ve done it too, you just beat me to it.”

The rest of the party went well. The kids had no complaints as they ate sandwiches. Alden loved all of his gifts, though he seemed especially thrilled to get the first in the Azura series from Carmen. Cake was served and enjoyed by everyone. As the other parents showed up to bring their children home, Luz went to talk to Diana’s parents about something regarding Diana. Amity was about to walk over when she heard her scroll ring. She summoned it and braced for the worst. Thankfully, this time it was Viney. Amity excused herself to the bathroom and answered the phone.

“Hey sis, how’s it going?”

“Pretty good,” Viney replied. “Is this call between sisters or as your general care healer?”

“Healer call, I need a physical done.”

“You aren’t due for one for a few months,” Viney said, a suspicious tone in her voice. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling great,” Amity said, a smile breaking over her face. “I just need to make sure I’m fit.”

“Fit for what?” Viney’s voice pitched in excitement.

“We’re going to try and have another kid!”


	23. Explosive Times at Hexside

If she had been asked before she came to the Boiling Isles what she would be when she grew up, Luz would have answered: an artist. She had been drawing for as long as she could remember. Those skills carried over into her training as a witch. Drawing glyphs came naturally to her, since most of them were the basic geometric shapes she spent hours practicing.

When Bump offered her a teaching position, she thought it would be simple. She still didn’t know much about the education system on the Isles but figured that they must have some basic art classes. Much to her horror and endless disappointment, there were no dedicated art classes except within the bard track. She had to completely restructure everything for students, beginning with glyph studies. Such students were her last class of the day.

“Alright guys,” Luz said, clapping her hands. “Today we’re going to be practicing drawing circles.”

The class let out a collective groan. Luz had come to expect as much. Drawing shapes over and over again certainly wasn’t the most interesting magic in the school. It wasn’t magic at all but it was necessary. They couldn’t rely on being able to copy spells from a template in the real world. Drawing them quickly and reliably was the difference between life and death for Luz time and time again. Having them premade would only get you so far.

“I know,” Luz raised a hand and grabbed a stack of papers. “We will begin to practice glyphs next week, but you all need to learn the fundamentals of art first. Drawing basic shapes is necessary for successfully completing any glyph.”

Luz handed the nearest witch the stack of papers. She took one and passed it over to the boy on her left. The sound of pencils scratching filled the room. Luz sat at her desk, working on grading some reports from the more advanced classes. The first year was so chaotic Bump thought that they may have to cancel the program entirely. But Luz was nothing if not determined. She had stopped Belos from conquering two worlds, she could figure out how to teach teenagers glyph magic.

After four years of tinkering, she and Bump figured out a system that worked. First semester was spent learning the basics, drawing, history, and the simple glyphs that wouldn’t kill them. The second semester started introducing the combat spells. The third semester was when students began learning glyphs that pertained to their tracks. The fourth semester was almost entirely studying to create their own glyphs. Honestly some of the students amazed Luz with how much effort they put into their final year. Since glyphs counted as an elective, there weren’t a lot of students that stuck with Luz to the end, but she was proud of the ones that did.

A small explosion drew Luz’s attention. She looked up, seeing smoke rise from the back of the room. 

_ There’s one every class _ , Luz thought as she headed to the charred student looking at his paper terrified. She was still learning names but she was certain this student’s name was Daniel Kurk.

“Mr. Kurk,” Luz’s stern voice targeted the student, who looked up and nodded. “What was the assignment given?”

“To draw circles,” the student wheezed out.

“So what did you draw instead?”

The student pointed to a poster Luz had made a few years ago, showing the fire glyph broken down into the individual shapes. Luz’s stern face broke into laughter.

“You are lucky,” Luz patted the student on the shoulder. “The last student to try that lost a lot more hair than you did.”

Luz looked around the room at the students now paying close attention to her.

“This is why we’re practicing these shapes,” Luz explained, walking up to the front of class where she had a giant pad of paper. She drew an uneven light glyph on it. “Uneven lines, incomplete shapes and general messiness lead to this.”

She tapped the glyph, and it crinkled weakly and dissolved. She redrew it quickly and correctly.

“You can learn to draw anything with practice,” Luz tapped the glyph, and a ball of light formed, making the students cover their eyes. “This isn’t an easy elective you can slack off with. This is a serious form that can be used in any number of ways. Before we have any fun with it, we need to learn it. Mr. Kurk, please go to the nurses office.”

The boy stood up and ran out of the class. He gave Luz one last sorry look, she returned it with an encouraging smile. She didn’t want him to drop out just because he embarrassed himself. Luz’s whole life had been spent embarrassing herself, and look at where she was now.

The rest of the class passed in silence. After 15 minutes the young witch returned and took a seat. Luz figured he hadn’t hurt himself but she needed to make sure. Every so often she stood up and looked at the work the students were doing. Correcting things like grip, movement, and other basics. The rest would come with practice. They were doing a good job so far, but they would still have a long way to go before they’d be able to freehand draw glyphs. 

When class finally ended Luz gave out the assignment. It was drawing more shapes but this time there wasn’t the grumbling that had followed the previous announcement. Indeed, many seemed desperate to make sure they had the homework before they would begin making glyphs tomorrow. Once the room cleared Luz allowed herself a moment just to breath. She’d have to make her way to Bump’s soon and she was not looking forward to it.

A knock on the door brought her back. She was surprised to see Edmund standing in the open doorway.

“Hola mamá,” Edmund looked around to see if there was anyone in there. “¿cómo estás?”

Luz gave a shrug as she grabbed the extra homework papers from her desk and put them in a drawer.

“Estoy así-así,” Luz put the homework she had yet to grade in a folder. “¿Y tú?”

“Fine,” Edmund walked in. “Nothing happened today, at all.”

“That’s good,” Luz gave him a smile as she wrapped up. “Are you going home or will you wait for us?”

“I think I’ll wait,” he looked around the room. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Of course!” Luz gave Edmund her full attention as she slung her messenger bag over her shoulder. 

“So, I’ve been thinking about... school,” Edmund’s hesitation wasn’t unnoticed by Luz, but she decided that pushing wasn’t right. “I’m going to be trying now.”

“I’ve noticed,” Luz nodded. “Two days without any trouble. Are you going to try and keep this up.”

“Maggie thinks I can with the pranks,” Edmund shrugged. “The fights… I don’t know. I don’t want to fight but-”

“Someone else could start something,” Luz finished for him, she walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. “Sweetie, you’re in a school full of teachers. Someone can stop the fight before it starts.”

“I know,” Edmund reached up and moved Luz’s hand away from him. “Actually what I wanted to talk about… forget it.”

“Edmund,” Luz let her hand fall to her side. “You don’t need to be afraid to ask, whatever it is I’m here to help-”

“We need to go to the Principal's office!” Edmund turned around and started walking out. Luz rolled her eyes and started following him. 

“Edmund!” Luz let out a groan as her son put on his ear buds. “I know you can still hear me! What did you want to ask?”

“Forget it.” Edmund kept on walking. “It’s not a good day to talk about it, you’re busy.”

_ Oh lord, he’s exactly like his mom. Or is he like me? Either way, right now he’s a pain in the rear. _

Edmund stopped in front of Bump’s office, sitting on the floor and pulling out his sketchbook. 

“Good luck mom,” Edmund gave Luz a nod as she entered the room. Carmen, Alden, Diana, and Nora were all present as were their parents and Mrs. Abbott. Isla stood behind Alden. Diana sat on the lap of one of her fathers, the other was kneeling next to them. Bump sat at his desk, listening to Mr. Selene complain.

“-second time in a week where my little girl was assaulted,” Nora’s dad was standing in front of Bump’s desk, finger pointed at Bump. “I demand action be taken to ensure Nora’s safety at once!”

“Oh good, hello Luz,” Bump ignored Mr. Selene completely, choosing to instead give Luz a smile. She returned it before moving to stand behind Carmen, putting her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “Now that we’re all here we can begin.”

“What’s there to begin?” Mr. Selene demanded to know, irritation seeping through his voice. “These brats attacked my daughter and she defended herself. Why are they even allowed back in the school?”

“From what I’ve gathered from Carmen and Alden, Nora was responsible for the damage to Diana’s personal property,” Bump gestured to Diana, who shrunk into her father’s arm. “She was unable to talk on Friday so I decided to wait-”

“Now that’s absurd!” Mr. Selene was on the warpath for justice. “She was obviously faking it to get her friends out of trouble.”

“That may well be the case!” Bump stood up. “But I will not make any decisions until I hear Diana’s story.”

Mr. Selene turned to look at Diana, glaring with an intense scowl on his face. Diana closed her eyes held onto her father. Carmen had told Luz about Diana not being comfortable with attention, so she averted her gaze to Carmen. The young witch’s knee bounced up and down nervously. 

“Well,” Diana started quietly. “We were on the screamset, I had folded up my sweater and put it on the ground. After I got off, I went to grab it but it was gone. We looked for it, Basil found it and went to get Mrs. Abbott. Nora came over and said some things to us. Then Alden threw mud at her.”

“What exactly did-”

“There!” Mr. Selene slammed his hand on the desk. “She admitted that Nora didn’t start the fight.”

“Mr. Selene,” Bump rubbed the bridge of his nose. “If you interrupt me again I will ask you to leave my office. Diana, what did Nora say?”

“She said my sweater was trashy, and that Carmen was Alden’s girlfriend, that Alden was a worse witch than Carmen, and that Alden made Carmen almost pass for normal. Earlier she made fun of the way Basil and Alden talked.”

“That’s a lie!” Nora exclaimed. “All they do is say I call them names but they’re lying.”

Diana shook her head and grabbed at her father’s shirt. Alden had an angry expression on his face. Mr. Selene stepped away from his desk and kneeled in front of Nora.

“I know it is Nora,” his tone not softening in the slightest. “Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of this.”

“What I’d like to know,” Luz spoke up. “Is what Nora was doing by the sweater at all. She was clearly avoiding them before, why talk to them now?”

“I was wondering what they were looking at,” Nora responded, putting on a fake innocent face. 

“You knew it was my sweater,” Diana let go of her father and looked at Nora.

“Yeah, you showed it to the whole class,” Nora looked away from Diana as she spoke. But Diana began looking at Nora intently. 

“You knew it was my sweater. Basil didn’t even recognize it. You knew it was my sweater. You saw me fall in the mud, you came over to make fun of us. You knew it was my sweater!”

Diana reached into her backpack and pulled out her sweater. She held onto it tightly as she glared at Nora. 

“You said that you couldn’t have done it, but you could. You can do the telekinesis spell. You could have made it fall in the mud when no one was looking. That’s what you did, isn’t it! You knew this was important to me and you ruined it!”

Diana was shaking as she finished accusing Nora. Her breathing was ragged and one of her hands was tapping her chest. Her father rubbed her back and quietly whispered to her. Mr. Selene folded his arms unimpressed.

“You have no evidence that my daughter did any such thing,” his harsh tone cutting through the room. “Besides, the girl is clearly overreacting to this situation. It’s just a sweater.”

“Mr. Selene,” Luz had been waiting for this moment, dreading it but knowing it was necessary. “I believe Diana is telling the truth about this incident. She is a bright young girl who’s shown nothing but kindness. Her emotional state isn’t her fault.”

Luz looked at Diana’s parents, who both nodded at her to continue.

“I believe Diana has something called autism,” the lack of reaction was unsurprising to Luz. She hadn’t met anyone in the Isle who had heard of it or had it before. “It’s a mental condition that’s fairly common in the Human Realm. My mother is a healer and when I told her about Diana she said that it was most likely what she had.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Mr. Selene asked.

“Well, autism affects everyone differently,” Luz was trying to be patient as she explained this. Not for Mr. Selene, but for the others in the room. “It sounds like Diana is hyper-sensitive to sounds, so having that sweater is something that provides comfort to her when things overwhelm her. Nora taking that from her, while not aware of this, was still cruel and clearly caused Diana to have a panic attack”

“There you go!” Mr. Selene raised his voice. “Making my daughter out to be the villain in all this. She is the victim of your children’s attack on her!”

Mr. Selene pointed at Carmen and Alden as he turned to look at Bump. 

“Mr. Bump, I want these students punished for attacking my daughter and I want it done now.”

“I agree, Mr. Selene,” Bump looked at Alden and Carmen. “Fighting is no longer allowed at Hexside, students. I understand your reasoning but the rules are in place for a reason. You’ll be doing extra work during recess along with Miss Selene.”

“Now see here Bump!” Mr. Selene started but Bump interrupted him.

“This is not the first time Nora has been accused of bullying Carmen. I don’t want to hear of a third time so we are nipping this in the bud now. Miss Fisher, all I can do is offer my sincerest apologies to you. Mrs. Blight-Noceda and I will be talking with your parents on how we can accommodate your condition in the future.”

“Thank you Principal Bump,” Diana’s father nodded at him before returning to rubbing Diana’s back. The girl had calmed down for the most part.

“Good, now, unless there’s any further business to discuss?” Bump eyed Mr. Selene, but the man remained silent. “I suggest you all try to have a pleasant evening.”

Mr. Selene and Nora walked out right away, without so much as an acknowledgement of anyone else in the room. Everyone else got up slowly and left as a group. Edmund joined them, taking an earbud out so he could hear what happened.

“Can you believe the nerve of that man?” Isla asked as they made their way out of the building. “Refusing to believe Diana and all our children. She’s so clearly lying.”

“Amity’s parents were almost the exact same,” Luz said in defeat. “Nothing could tarnish the Blight name. They controlled so much of her life. Her friends, her outfits, her hair, the people she could love.”

“That’s horrible!” One of Diana’s Dads chimed in. 

“It really was,” Luz said darkly. She never liked Amity’s parents. The first time she met them was at Amity’s 15th birthday party. They hadn’t left the best first impression on Luz, that impression proved to be true as she and Amity started dating.

“Is there anything we can do as parents?” Diana’s other dad asked. He was keeping an eye on their kids, who were far ahead of the parents and playing red-light, green-light.

“Just keep an eye out for both our kids’ sake and hers,” Luz sighed. She had no idea what Diana’s home life was like, but there was never a good reason to hurt others like she was. If there was abuse or neglect there weren’t a lot of options Luz had. Child services didn’t exist on the Boiling Isles and law enforcement would only act if physical harm was present.

Luz’s attention went to the kids. Worrying about Nora wouldn’t do them much good at this point. She needed to focus on helping Carmen learn how to deal with bullies. How she can help Diana if another panic attack happens. She was only a six year old but she had so much to deal with.

_ So did I when I was six. _ Luz didn’t like to think about her school life too much but everytime she talked to Carmen about school it was like taking a trip down memory lane. Telling Mami about bullies, not understanding classwork as easily as the other kids or just how she wasn’t enjoying school. At least Carmen had friends, real friends who stood up for her, that relied on each other for support. Luz couldn’t be happier or prouder of Carmen for that.

“Mamá!” Carmen shouted from across the hall. “Can Alden come over for dinner?”

“Not tonight,” Isla told Luz quietly. “It’s been a long day and I think we both need some downtime.”

Luz nodded and looked back to Carmen. “Maybe later this week. We could try working on a new glyph tonight.”

“OH TITAN YEAH!” Carmen shouted and ran down the hall. “Come on, let’s go slowpokes.”

“I opened a can of worms for myself there,” Luz groaned.  _ Hopefully the next kid will be calmer, because I don’t know if I'll have enough energy for another Carmen. _

  
  



	24. News for the Kids

“Focus,” Edmund whispered.

“All you need to do is imagine the ball floating,” Luz massaged Carmen’s shoulders as she finished drawing.

“I think I got it this time,” Carmen smiled, feeling confident. 

She carefully placed the glyph on the basketball in front of her. She gave it a light tap, her eyes widening as she watched the lines she’d drawn begin to glow. Edmund took in a deep breath next her. Luz’s grip tightened on her shoulders. The ball itself began to glow.

_ This is it! It’s going to levitate! _

Right when it seemed like the ball was about to lift off the table and the spell was actually going to work, the glow faded. The paper fell off the ball and shriveled into nothingness.

A collective exhale was let out around the table.

“It’s okay honey,” Luz encouraged Carmen. “This wasn’t an easy spell for me to learn as an adult.”

Carmen didn’t respond, her attention had fully returned to drawing out another glyph. The pile of paper was significantly smaller than when they started after school. While Luz had done her best to explain how to make the glyph work, the truth was that practice made perfect. It could take a while before the glyph would actually make anything float.

“You’re getting really close Carmen,” Edmund said, pulling out his own homework. “That’s one glyph I don’t know yet. You’ll be able to whip it on whatever and send it flying.”

“I know you can cast it with a spell circle,” Carmen knew Edmund was trying to help but she didn’t need reminding of the things he could do easily that she struggled with.

“Doesn’t make it any less impressive,” Edmund flashed a toothless smile and went back into his homework.

Carmen couldn’t remember the last time he had actually done his homework out where she could see. He used to let her sit on his lap as he explained what he was doing. She didn’t understand any of it but it made her feel special. Then he started going to his room all the time and she rarely saw him outside of meals. 

“Edmund, can I ask you something?” Carmen put her pencil down before she finished the glyph circle.

“What’s up?” Edmund glanced up from his work.

“Since you’re trying harder to be good, does that mean you’re not going to get in more trouble anymore?”

Edmund looked back at his paper, furrowing his eyebrows and frowning slightly.

“Well, I’m trying harder in classes,” Edmund started, talking slowly so he could map out what he wanted to say. “I don’t want to cause more trouble there because… I just don’t need to.”

“Why don’t you need to?” Edmund was avoiding talking about something, and Carmen had a feeling it was about her.

“I realized it wasn’t the right thing to do anymore,” Edmund smiled and returned to his work.

“What about fighting, is that still a bad thing for you to do?”

Edmund’s quill paused, his eyes falling on the paper in front of him and his expression sombered.

“It was never good for me to fight,” Edmund said with a lot of weight. “When I heard that you and your friend got into a fight, I was scared.”

“But we were fine, so why were you scared?”

“I was scared because I don’t want you to end up like me,” Edmund explained. “From what I heard you two had a valid reason to want to fight. Still, hurting someone only leads to you getting hurt. Sometimes you get hurt in the fight, and most every time you get hurt afterwards as well. The feelings of shame, anger, and contempt you thought you felt for the other person circle back to yourself.”

“I’m not mad at myself though, Nora was the one who hurt Diana.”

_ She’s still just a kid _ , Edmund reminded himself,  _ she didn’t start that fight. She’s not you trying to prove to everyone that you’re a bad person. She’s not trying to prove it to herself the way I did to myself. _

“You’re right,” Edmund agreed. “Nora did a bad thing and you were protecting your friends. I… I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

Before he could realize what was happening, Carmen was at his side hugging him.

“But you’re the best big brother in the whole Isles,” Carmen said fiercely. “Why wouldn’t I want to be like you?”

“I haven’t been the best big brother recently,” Edmund hugged Carmen back. “But I’m going to really try and set a better example for you okay?”

“Okay.”

The two siblings stayed in each other’s embrace for a minute. They had each been so busy recently that neither had the chance to talk or just be around each other. Carmen was growing up right in front of Edmund, much faster than he wanted. 

Luz smiled as she watched her kids interact. Edmund was finally maturing and becoming the role model Carmen deserved. Luz let out a happy sigh as she pulled out some papers she had to grade. It felt like things were finally settling down for their little family.

_ Well, it’s not going to be that little anymore. _

As if on cue the front door opened and Amity came inside.

“Hey guys,” she said. Luz waved and grinned at her wife. Amity was radiating positivity, which meant that her appointment with Viney must have gone well. They’d have a little more work to do but it seemed like they were on course to have another kid.

“How was your day Amity?” Luz asked as Amity made her way to the table. They shared a quick peck on the lips before Amity made her way to their children and hugged them.

“Good, work the same as usual, you know how it goes,” she shrugged. “We’re really hitting a bit of a stumbling block with where we can take abominations next.”

“That’s what happens when they put my genius wife in charge,” Luz caught Amity’s blush and eye roll.

“Yeah, well hopefully we can keep our research output up so we can keep receiving council benefits.”

Luz frowned a little bit, Amity hadn’t mentioned that before.

“Would Lilith cut your funding if you slowed down just a little?”

“Oh no,” Amity waved her hand dismissively. “The council has been very impressed with our work so far. Lilith’s thinking is more long term, making sure this new coven system can actually sustain itself after this first council is replaced.”

“I see,” Luz was aware that there were still a lot of changes that were happening in regards to the Boiling Isles’ politics, despite it being decades since Belos was ousted and the new Council replaced him.

Amity was pretty much guaranteed a job even if her department went away, but Luz knew how much this meant to her. She and Lilith both wanted magic to lose the restraints that Belos had placed on it with the Coven system. Amity’s role in that was looking at how abominations could be mixed with other branches of magic, as well as developing new methods of controlling and summoning them. It required a lot of coordination between covens and small teams but if there was a witch who could pull it off, it was Amity.

“We’re going to have quite a few meetings coming up with other coven research divisions to brainstorm new projects,” Amity sat down next to Edmund and across from Carmen. 

“Sounds like that’ll be quite a handful,” Luz’s attention returned to grading but she was still more or less listening.

“Yeah, and things will get more hectic in a few months,” Amity said with a sigh.

“What’s going on in a few months?” Carmen asked.

Luz and Amity shared a quick look. They hadn’t planned on telling them until Amity was actually pregnant. Still, the last time they withheld information from the two kids hadn’t gone well. Amity gave Luz a nod and smile, which Luz took as a sign to speak up.

“Well,” Luz put down the assignment she had been marking with red ink. “There's something we need to talk to you kids about.”

Carmen’s eyes widened just a little. Edmund just looked at his parents indifferently. Luz gestured to Amity who nodded.

“Your Mamá and I were talking recently,” Amity reached over and grabbed Luz’s hand. “About our family, and how much we love it. And one of the things we talked about was, maybe, expanding it.”

“Like getting a pet?” Carmen drew out the question, uncertain of what her parents were talking about. 

Meanwhile Edmund’s relaxed disposition suddenly began morphing into a horrified expression. He frantically looked between Amity and Luz.

“No,” he pleaded. “No no no no, please don’t tell me… no.”

“We,” Luz continued for Amity. “Are going to have another baby.”

“NO!” Edmund slammed his hands on the tables and pushed himself up. “You’re kidding me right?”

“Have…” Carmen remained seated, puzzled over what her mothers just told her. “Have another baby?”

“The reason I went to the healers was to make sure I was okay to have the baby,” Amity maintained a smile on her face despite the two very different reactions each of their kids had. “According to Aunt Viney I am. We’re going to be moving ahead-”

“So you’re not pregnant yet?” Edmund interrupted Amity, still looking tense.

“No, I just had a check up to make sure I could still have a kid.”

“But we’re not counting down yet?”

“Counting-” Luz was taken aback. “Where have you heard it being called counting down?”

“Nowhere,” Edmund started to smile and take deep breaths. “I just didn't know what else to call it.”

“The proper term is expecting,” Luz knew Amity and Edmund had “the talk” but she really needed to make sure he took a proper health class at Hexside. “And no, we aren’t expecting.”

“That’s good,” Edmund sat back down.

“Having another baby.” Carmen repeated, making it sound more like a question than a statement. “We’re having another baby?”

“That’s right, you’re going to be a big sister,” Luz grinned.

“Are you going to have the baby?” Carmen asked Luz.

“No sweetie, Mom is going to carry it,” Luz didn’t want to get into the specifics with her right now. “It’ll be growing in Mom’s tummy but it’ll be our child, just like you and Edmund are our children.”

“Why can’t you carry it?” Carmen didn’t take her eyes off Luz. 

“Carmen,” Amity gripped Luz’s hand a little harder, and Luz squeezed back. “This has nothing to do with what happened with you.”

“Then how come Mamá isn’t the one having it?”

The mood shifted, Amity could feel the tension rising between everyone. Edmund’s eyes nervously shifted between Luz and Carmen. Carmen glared at both her parents. Luz was trying her best to explain away Carmen’s worries but even she could see that it wasn’t helping.

“I’m not having the baby because Mom wants to,” Luz’s voice was panicky.

“Will you have the next one?”

“We’re not sure there’s going to be a next one?”

“Because you don’t want to worry about another me, right?” Carmen’s tone sharpened, anger rising up from somewhere Amity hadn’t heard before.

“Carmen Camilla Blight-Noceda,” Amity was shocked at what she heard. “That is no way to talk to your Mamá!”

“WHY, BECAUSE I’M RIGHT?!”

The silence that followed was palpable. Luz and Amity looked at Carmen in shock. Edmund was looking at Carmen, his fist in front of his mouth. After nearly a minute, Carmen got up and ran up to her room. No one else moved until Edmund brought his hand down and looked at Luz and Amity.

“Can you guys be honest with me?” Edmund’s voice was quiet. “Is Mom having the baby because of what happened to Carmen?”

“It… was a factor,” Amity said, which was the truth. She wanted to have the baby, and Luz didn’t after the horrible experience she had. “It’s not the only reason, but Luz and I talked about it and she wasn’t comfortable with carrying another baby. Not when we knew so little about what actually happened.”

“We honestly don’t know if it won’t happen again,” Luz added. “You two are the only half-human, half-witch children on the Isles. I just know that… I don’t want to put another child through that. We almost lost Carmen, it could have gone so wrong so quickly,” Luz frowned. “And I don’t want to go through that again. I’ve battled monsters, fought in battles, but that day, that was the worst day of my life.”

“So there’s no guarantee it won’t happen with mom?” 

“That’s right,” Amity said with a sigh. “We’re going to be taking more precautions this time. No trips to the human realm, more check-ups and way less activity when it’s closer to the due date.”

Edmund folded up his homework and put it in his satchel. 

“I… um… I’m actually excited,” Edmund said as he got up. “I’m freaking out but this is super exciting. I’m going to my room, who can I share this with?”

“Oh!” Luz and Amity shared a quick glance. Neither had a chance to really talk about when they were going to tell the rest of the Owl family. They were thinking about waiting until they were expecting.

“Who did you have in mind?” Amity asked slowly.

“Just Maggie,” Edmund assured them. “This is… kind of a big deal and probably something she would want to know about.”

“That’s fine, go ahead,” Luz said as Edmund grabbed his stuff and walked over. He bent down and gave Luz an awkward hug, but one she still appreciated. She couldn’t remember the last time he initiated a hug with her. 

“Love you honey,” Amity said as Edmund repeated the uncomfortable bending motion with her. With a final sigh he let go and headed off. The two witches listened as his footsteps echoed on the stairwell and finally disappeared as he entered his room.

“That went…” Luz trailed off looking for the right words. She hadn’t expected either kid to react the way they did. 

“They took the news…” Amity let out a quiet groan as she replayed everything in her head.

“We…” 

“I…” 

“That was a disaster.” Both said simultaneously.

“Edmund is excited!” Luz tried to play glass half full.

“And Carmen took it horribly,” Amity couldn’t help but focus on the glass half empty.

“Which isn’t too bad,” Luz recognized that Carmen’s less than pleased reaction needed to be addressed, but she remained hopeful. “We’ll talk to her later. I understand where she’s coming from with all this but we just need to communicate with her a bit better next time.”

“But she wasn’t wrong,” Amity knew Luz was trying to be positive on this but this was something they needed to deal with. “I’m doing this because both of us are scared of what might happen if you go through that again.”

“That’s part of it, but it’s still risky for you to do this too.” 

They had talked about this at length last night. Going down a pros and cons list of reasons whether or not to go through with the pregnancy. Amity had already started a list but Luz added plenty to it, both good and bad. In the end, they still decided to go through with having another kid as long as Viney gave them the all clear. 

“Viney thinks it’ll be okay,” Amity said with a shrug. 

Viney was able to fit Amity in today and Amity thanked her lucky stars that Viney was far better at keeping secrets from Emira than Amity ever was. Viney was definitely giddy she’d get a new niece/nephew to spend more time with. She had been with Em for a long time but hadn’t gotten to be an official aunt until after Edmund and Carmen had been born. 

“She’s scheduled us to meet with the midwife in a few weeks.”

Luz let out a snort, which made Amity glare at her.

“Sorry, it’s just that midwives in the human world just help deliver the babies.”

“I know,” Amity’s voice was dead serious. “You laughed the first time I told you that here they cast the spell that allows us to have a baby. Despite it being one of the most honored jobs in the healing coven and something only the most skilled witches are trusted with.”

“So how long are we going to have Viney keep this from Em,” Luz rapidly shifted the conversation. There were some things that Amity took very seriously in regards to the Boiling Isles’ society and that was one of them.

“I’ll tell my siblings after I actually get pregnant,” Amity said.

“Then I can tell Mami and Eda around then too.”

“I’m sure Edmund will tell Maple sooner rather than later,” Amity couldn’t help but smile. She was happy that Edmund finally had someone else other than family and his therapist he felt confident talking to.

“Carmen will tell her friends,” Luz matched Amity’s smile. Carmen had managed to find herself some great friends.

“So basically everyone on the Isles will know,” the two witches laughed before Amity’s face fell. “Which means my parents will find out eventually.”

_ Which means another meaningless invitation and chance for them to remind us that we aren’t really part of the family.  _

“Did you call him back?” Luz asked.

“No,” Amity hadn’t wanted to, and she hadn’t had time to call the twins and ask them if Dad had called them. She didn’t want to do anything until all three of them were on the same page. “I’m going to call Ed and Em soon. Maybe they know why Dad suddenly decided to care about his youngest daughter.”

“Hey,” Luz got up and wrapped Amity in a hug. “We’re going to do all of this together, okay? Even if I’m not going to work meetings with you or carrying our next kid I’m always here for you.”

“I know Luz,” Amity hugged her back. “Things are going to change again aren’t they?”

“Things are always changing,” Luz said dryly. “This is going to be great, you’ll see.

And Luz believed that with all her heart. After all of the doubt she had carried for years, the fact that Amity still wanted to have another kid with  _ her  _ made her feel like they could do this. There would be points where they’d stumble. Mistakes would be made. But as long as they were together and a family, Luz felt like they’d be able to do anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe this is over. Thank you all so much for being part of this and enjoying it so much. I never expected this to get the reception it has. Special shoutout to Lexa_Alcyia for being the single best Beta reader in the universe. I'm already working on the sequel to this, but it's gonna take a while before I can start releasing it. Have a great holiday season and I'll be back as soon as I can. You are all beautiful and valid, never let anyone tell you otherwise.


End file.
